FROM   THE   LIBRARY   OF 


REV.    LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON,    D.  D. 


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CENTENNIAL    HISTORY 


Protestant  Episcopal  Church 


DIOCESE   OF   NEW   YORK 


I78J— 1.885 


EDITED    BY 


TAMES    GRANT    WILSON 


NEW   YORK 
D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY 

1886 


Copyright,  1886, 
By  JAMES  GRANT  WILSON. 


PREFACE. 


By  a  Resolution  of  the  New  York  Diocesan  Convention 
of  1885,  a  Committee  on  Historical  Publications,  consisting  of 

The  Rt.  Rev.  Henry  C.  Potter,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

The  Rev.   Morgan  Dix,  D.D.,  D.C.L.,  Gen.  Jas.  Grant  Wilson, 

The  Rev.  Francis  Lobdell,  D.D.,  Mr.  J.  Pierpont  Morgan, 

The  Rev.  William  H.  Benjamin,  D.D., 

was  appointed  for  the  purpose  of  preparing  and  publishing 
an  account  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Centenary  Celebration 
of  the  Diocese,  together  with  such  other  historical  matter  as 
might  be  deemed  appropriate.  In  accordance  with  this 
Resolution,  the  volume  now  offered  to  the  public  by  the 
persons  appointed  by  the  One  Hundredth  Convention  of 
the  Diocese  has  been  prepared  for  the  press  by  a  member 
of  the  Committee,  under  its  direction. 

The  Committee  desire  to  return  their  sincere  thanks  to 
Bishops  Coxe  and  Doane,  and  to  the  Rev.  Drs.  De  Costa, 
Seabury,  Smith,  and  Spencer,  for  valuable  contributions  to 
the  Centennial  History.  To  Mr.  Benjamin  Moore,  who 
kindly  supplied  the  steel  engraving  of  his  grandfather, 
Bishop  Moore,  used  in  this  work,  and  to  Miss  Potter,  who 
procured  for  the  same  purpose  the  admirable  portrait  of 
her  father,  the  venerable  Bishop  of  the  Diocese,  the  Com- 
mittee also  desire  to  express  their  grateful  acknowledgments. 

New  York,  May,  1886. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Proceedings  at  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  September,  1885 3 

Centennial  Sermon  by  the  Rev.  William  J.  Seabury,  D.D 8 

Proceedings  at  St.  Thomas'  Church,  New  York,  September,  18S5 45 

Historical  Address  by  the  Rev.  B.  F.  De  Costa,  D.D 87 

Address  by  the  Bishop  of  Western  New  York 105 

Address  by  the  Bishop  of  Albany 113 

Address  by  the  Bishop  of  Long  Island 119 

Sketches  of  the  Bishops  : 

The  First  Bishop  of  New  York 127 

The  Second  Bishop  of  New  York 142 

The  Third  Bishop  of  New  York 148 

The  Fourth  Bishop  of  New  York 171 

The  Fifth  Bishop  of  New  York i"6 

The  Sixth  Bishop  of  New  York 1S7 

The  Assistant  Bishop  of  New  York 199 

Historical  notices  of  the  Parishes 203 

Sketches  of  Institutions  of  Learning  and  Charity 3°9 

Church  Literature  of  the  Century 431 

Index 447 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


STEEL    ENGRAVINGS. 

ARTIST.  ENGRAVER. 

Samuel  Provoost West Buttre Frontispiece 

Benjamin  Moore Sharpless Hall. Face  142 


John  Henry  Hobart Paradise Buttre 

Benjamin  T.  Onderdonk Brady Ormsby 

Jonathan  M.  Wainwright Unknown Rogers 

Henry  C.  Potter Rockwood Williams. . 

Old  Trinity  Church,  New  York  . .  Davis Eddy 


148 
171 
176 
199 
203 


WOOD    ENGRAVINGS. 

Present  Trinity  Church,  New  York "        3 

Bishop  Provoost's  Book-plate 129 

Horatio  Potter Huntington Johnson Face  187 

Twenty-seven  Autograph  Fac-similes  :  Bishops  Coxe,  Doane,  Hobart,  Madi- 
son, Moore,  Onderdonk,  Horatio  Potter,  Henry  C  Potter,  Provoost,  Seabury, 
Wainwright,  White;  General  Wilson;  Rev.  Drs.  De  Costa,  Dix,  Hawks, 
Seabury,  Smith,  Spencer,  and  the  Rev.  Daniel  Burhans. 


The  rise  and  growth  of  a  Church  in  a  Nation,  or  any  portion  of  a  Nation, 
which  has  expanded  like  the  United  States,  is  perhaps  the  most  important 
theme  in  the  history  of  the  Nation  itself. — Chaplain-General  Gleig. 


PROCEEDINGS    AT    TRINITY    CHURCH. 


TRINITY    CHURCH,    NEW    YORK    CITY 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   TRINITY   CHURCH. 

THE  opening  services  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Second 
Convention  of  the  Diocese  of  New  York  were  held  in  Trinity 
Church  on  Wednesday,  September  30,  1885,  and  were  designed 
to  constitute  a  commemoration  of  the  Centenary  of  the 
Diocese.  Arrangements  had  been  made  by  a  committee 
appointed  for  that  purpose  by  the  Convention. 

The  Bishops  of  the  other  dioceses  contained  within  the 
State  of  New  York  were  invited  to  be  present  and  to  send 
representatives  of  the  clergy  and  laity,  and  invitations  were 
also  sent  to  the  bishops  of  dioceses  contiguous  to  that  of 
New  York  or  in  its  neighborhood. 

The  Bishops  of  Central  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  sent 
apologies  for  their  absence  in  the  following  letters,  the  former 
of  which  was  addressed  to  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of 
Arrangements,  the  latter  to  the  Assistant  Bishop  of  New 
York: 

Hadley,  September  21,   1885. 
My  Dear  Brother: 

Your  favor  of  the  ninth  instant,  requesting  me  to  inform 
you  whether  it  is  my  intention  to  be  present  at  the  approach- 
ing Centenary  services  of  the  Diocese  of  New  York,  came 
here  while  I  was  away  from  home.  The  Assistant  Bishop 
whose  personal  courtesy  I  wish  to  acknowledge,  has  been 
aware  for  some  weeks  that  I  am  obliged  to  forego  the  bene 
fits  and  enjoyments  of  that  occasion.  The  Diocese  of  Central 
New  York  will  be  represented,  I  hope,  by  clerical  and  lay 
Delegates,  duly  appointed  in  accordance  with  the  invitation 
with  which  we  were  honored.  In  many  of  the  chief  blessings 
which  you  will  commemorate  we  are,  with  you,  grateful 
partakers.  Our  common  inheritance  ought  to  preserve  you 
and  us  in  perpetual  fellowship — the  fellowship  of  the  ever- 


4  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

lasting  Faith.  Whatever  measures  of  fruit,  or  accessions  of 
power,  arc  granted  to  you  yield  manifold  benefits  to  us. 
We  are  quickened  by  your  activities.  We  are  enriched  by 
your  wisdom.  We  are  enlarged  by  your  liberality.  We  try 
to  emulate  your  zeal.  We  rejoice  in  your  abounding  gifts  of 
grace.  If  it  seems  to  older  nations  than  ours  to  be  a  rather 
youthful  antiquity  and  a  somewhat  brief  history  that  you  are 
about  to  celebrate,  the  short  record  is  not  without  some 
signal  points  of  interest.  Among  these  may  be  well  reckoned, 
it  appears  to  me,  a  manifest  increase  of  toleration,  an  abate- 
ment of  party  spirit,  and  an  advance  in  mutual  sympathy 
and  service  among  all  classes  of  people,  as  both  the  duty  and 
privilege  of  churchmen.  New  York  has  certainly  done  its 
part  well  towards  the  furtherance  of  church-life  and  the  de- 
velopment of  church-principles.  Should  the  coming  observ- 
ance and  your  ample  resources  prompt  some  fresh  move- 
ment of  general  advantage  to  our  whole  Communion  through- 
out the  country,  like  the  erection  of  a  worthy  Church-House, 
or  the  establishment  of  a  great  Theological  Library  in 
the  national  metropolis,  or  a  generous  Centennial  missionary 
endowment,  how  beneficent  its  practical  result  would  be,  and 
how  universal  the  thankfulness  and  joy. 

With  the  highest  esteem,  I  am, 

Faithfully  and  affectionately  yours, 

F.  D.  Huntington. 

To  the  Rev.  Morgan  Dix,  D.D. 

Philadelphia,  September  28,  1885. 
My  Dear  Bishop  Potter  : 

I  regret  to  find  that  I  shall  not  be  able  to  be  present  at  the 
interesting  services  on  Wednesday.  Though  my  health  has 
greatly  improved  yet  my  strength  has  not  fully  returned,  and 
I  must  economize  it  in  every  way,  in  order  to  discharge  the 
duties  required  of  me  here. 

Our  respective  Dioceses  have  long  been  yoke-fellows  in  the 
great  work  of  planting  the  Church,  and  fostering  the  Church  in 
these  Western  lands.  Their  first  Bishops  were  consecrated 
together,  in  the  Chapel  of  Lambeth  Palace,  in  London,  by 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   TRINITY   CHURCH.  5 

the  same  Prelates  of  the  Church  of  England.  The  first 
Bishop  of  Pennsylvania  consecrated  three  of  the  six  Bishops 
of  New  York. 

Your  eminent  Bishop  Hobart  was  a  native  of  Philadelphia, 
and  began  his  ministry  in  this  Diocese;  and  your  own  minis- 
try was  commenced  in  what  was  then  the  Diocese  of  Penn- 
sylvania. Twice  have  the  Dioceses  of  New  York  and  Penn- 
sylvania had  brothers  as  Bishops  ;  and  now  again,  has  the 
Diocese  of  New  York  taken  the  son  of  my  ever  venerated  and 
noble  predecessor,  and  committed  to  him  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  largest  Diocese  in  the  United  States. 

We  thus  seem  mortised  into  each  other  in  various  ways, 
and  interlinked  by  many  tender  remembrances. 

It  is  just  one  hundred  years  to-day  since  the  first  General 
Convention  of  the  Middle  and  Southern  States,  seven  in 
number,  met  in  Christ  Church  in  this  city  for  organization, 
and  for  securing  the  Episcopacy,  and  for  the  revision  of  the 
Liturgy.  The  representatives  were  few,  the  churches  were 
feeble,  and  the  cause  itself  seemed  hopeless.  Yet,  "  the  little 
one  has  become  a  thousand,  and  the  small  one  a  strong  nation," 
because  it  was  the  Church  of  the  Living  God  and  the  Living 
Christ  has  gone  forth  with  His  Church,  conquering  and  to 
conquer. 

I  could  not  forbear  writing  you,  my  beloved  brother, 
these  few  lines,  and  sending  them  to  you  as  "  the  right  hand 
of  fellowship,"  from  your  father's  diocese  and  your  father's 
successor,  to  the  cherished  son  who  so  well  wears  his  father's 
honors,  and  on  whose  person  and  work  I  invoke  God's  most 
gracious  blessing. 

I  remain, 

Very  truly  yours, 

Wm.  Bacon  Stevens. 

Rt.  Rev.  H.  C.  Potter,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

Morning  Prayer  was  said  at  nine  o'clock  by  the  Rev. 
George  W.  Douglas,  S.T.D.,  assisted  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  W. 
Hill  and  the  Rev.  Henry  Bedinger,  Rector  of  St.  Luke's 
Church,  Matteawan,  who  read  the  first  lesson  for  the  day. 


6  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

After  a  brief  intermission  the  order  for  the  Administra- 
tion of  the  Holy  Communion  was  begun  by  the  Right  Rev. 
Henry  C.  Potter,  D.D.,  Assistant  Bishop  of  the  Diocese,  as 
Celebrant,  assisted  by  the  Right  Rev.  A.  N.  Littlejohn,  D.D., 
Bishop  of  Long  Island,  who  read  the  Epistle,  and  the  Right 
Rev.  Arthur  Cleveland  Coxe,  D.D.,  who  read  the  Holy 
Gospel.  The  Bishops  of  Albany,  Tennessee,  and  New 
Jersey  were  also  present,  and  aided  in  communicating  the 
clergy  and  laity. 

The  musical  portion  of  the  services  was  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Mr.  Arthur  Messiter,  Organist  of  Trinity  Church. 
Morning  Prayer  was  sung  by  a  small  but  efficient  choir;  the 
full  choir  of  the  church,  reinforced  by  additional  singers, 
took  part  in  the  solemn  celebration  of  the  Holy  Communion, 
the  order  being  as  follows  : 

Processional  Hymn,  No.  202.     "The  Church's  one  foundation." 

Introit,  Psalm  cxxv.  1.       '''■All  they  that  trust  in  the  Lord,  shall  be  even  as  the 

Mount  Zion,  which  may  ?iot  be  removed,  but  standeth  fast  forever." ..  .Hiller. 

Responses  to  Commandments Cherubini. 

Nicene  Creed  (Monotone  with  organ  harmonies). 

Offertory:  Psalm  cxxv.   2,   3,  4,    5.       "  Round  Jerusalem    stand  the  mountains 

.     .     .    btit  peace  shall  be  upon  Israel Hiller, 

Sanctus Cherubini. 

Eucharistic  Hymn,  No.  205  :  2,  3.      "Hail,  sacred  feast." 

Gloria  in  Excelsis Old  Chant. 

Recessional   Hymn,  No.  189.      "Hark,  the  sound  of  holy  voices." 

Among  the  delegates  present,  and  representing  the  other 
dioceses  in  the  State  of  New  York,  were : 

From  the  Diocese  of  Western  New  York  : 

The  Rev.  Lloyd  Windsor,  D.D.  Mr.  William  B.  Douglas. 

The  Rev.  E.  N.  Potter,  D.D.  Prof.  Hamilton  Smith. 

The  Rev.  L.  B.  Van  Dyck.  Mr.  Alfred  Ely. 

From  the  Diocese  of  Long  Island  : 

The  Rev.  Charles  H.  Hall,  D.D.  The  Hon.  John  A.  King. 

The  Rev.  William  H.  Moore,  D.D.  The  Hon.  Seth  Low. 

From  the  Diocese  of  Albany  : 
The  Rev.  William  Payne,  D.D.  Chancellor  Henry  R.  Pierson. 

The  Rev.  John  I.  Tucker,  D.D.  The  Hon.  James  Forsyth. 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   TRINITY   CHURCH.  J 

From  the  Diocese  of  Central  New  York  : 

The  Rev.  Theodore  Babcock,  D.D.  Mr.  William  H.  Bogart. 

The  Rev.  Charles  F.  Olmsted.  Mr.  George  J.  Gardner. 

The  sermon  was  preached  by  the  Rev.  William  J.  Sea- 
bury,  D.D.,  Rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Annunciation,  New 
York,  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  Polity  and  Law  in  the  Gen- 
eral Theological  Seminary. 


CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 


SERMON. 

Mark  well  her  bulwarks,  set  up  her  houses :  that  ye  may  tell  them  that  come 
after. — Psalm,  xlviii.  12. 

The  psalmist  sings  the  glory  of  God  as  manifested  in  His 
Holy  City.  The  burning  words  of  praise  which  flow  from  his 
heart  appear  to  commemorate  some  recent  demonstration  of 
the  Divine  power  and  providence  ;  but  they  are  general  as 
well,  and  regard  this  particular  instance  as  only  one  of  a  con- 
tinuous and  unbroken  succession  of  God's  mercies,  by  reason 
whereof  the  stronghold  of  the  chosen  people  was  glorious  and 
beautiful. 

The  hill  of  Sion  is  a  fair  place  and  the  joy  of  the  whole 
earth.  The  enemies  of  the  Lord  have  compassed  sea  and 
land  to  work  the  ruin  of  the  holy  place.  The  kings  of  the 
earth  are  gathered  against  Jerusalem,  but  no  sooner  gathered 
than  dispersed  ;  and  the  ships  of  the  sea  are  broken.  The 
deliverances  wrought  for  Sion  excited,  indeed,  the  wonder  of 
the  nations,  but  to  the  people  themselves  there  was  no  marvel. 
Astonishment  and  perplexity  reigned  without  the  city,  but 
within,  the  calmness  and  joy  of  an  assured  faith  ;  for  God  is 
well  known  in  her  palaces  as  a  sure  refuge.  So  for  general 
and  continued  mercies,  as  well  as  for  recent  deliverances,  the 
citizens  were  incited  to  a  thankful  praise.  And  while  with 
gladdened  hearts  they  were  to  render  their  grateful  adoration 
to  the  Object  of  all  worship,  they  were  to  look  with  admiring 
and  watchful  love  upon  the  site  which  that  Divine  Being  had 
chosen  to  place  His  Name  there — a  love  which  was  to  lead 
not  only  to  praise,  but  also  to  careful  attention  to  the  Holy 
City,  which  was  to  be  scanned  within  and  without,  and  held 
evermore  in  such  reverend  estimation  as  might  tend  to 
preserve  it  for  a  perpetual  memorial  of  God  to  successive 
generations.  Fortified  against  attacks  from  without,  strength- 
ened and  beautified  in  its  several  parts  within,  it  was  to  en- 
dure as  a  standing  monument  to  the  honor  and  glory  of  the 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   TRINITY   CHURCH.  9 

God  of  Israel.  "  Let  the  Mount  Sion  rejoice,  and  the  daughter 
of  Judah  be  glad,  because  of  Thy  judgments.  Walk  about 
Sion  ;  go  round  about  her,  and  tell  the  towers  thereof.  Mark 
well  her  bulwarks,  set  up  her  houses,  that  ye  may  tell  them 
that  come  after.  For  this  God  is  our  God  for  ever  and  ever. 
He  shall  be  our  guide  unto  death." 

And  these  words,  spoken  first  with  reference  to  the  Holy 
City  of  the  Jews,  have  ever  been  echoed  by  the  faithful  mem- 
bers of  Christ,  as  the  due  expression  of  their  grateful  love  to 
God  for  His  mercies  toward  them  in  their  earthly  warfare, 
and  of  their  heartfelt  solicitude  for  the  welfare  of  the  Church, 
the  true  Sion,  the  new  Jerusalem  which  came  down  from 
Heaven.  Thankful  adoration  of  God  as  our  Creator  and  pre- 
server; joyful  contentment  with  the  blessed  privileges  of  our 
heavenly  citizenship  ;  watchful  attention  to  the  earthly  needs 
of  the  heavenly  city  while  it  affords  us  shelter  and  refuge 
against  the  assaults  of  our  enemies;  and  an  earnest  solicitude 
to  hand  down  to  succeeding  generations  the  blessings  which 
we  have  found  within  it,  and  thus  to  perpetuate  through  all 
time  the  memorial  of  human  redemption  through  Christ — 
these  are  the  thoughts  suggested  by  this  fragment  of  holy 
writing  to  the  devout  understanding  of  a  Christian's  faith. 
Let  these  thoughts  suggest,  in  their  turn,  the  direction  which 
our  meditations  are  to  take  to-day  :  and  as  we  keep  the  feast 
of  the  memorial  of  God's  good  benediction  for  the  century 
past,  may  our  heart  and  mind  be  quickened  by  His  Holy 
Spirit,  to  a  grateful  remembrance  of  His  mercies  toward  us, 
and  to  such  an  observation  of  our  Holy  City  as  may  both  en- 
hance our  thankfulness,  and  stimulate  our  watchfulness  ;  and 
thus  aid  us  in  our  endeavor  to  realize  the  better  both  the  na- 
ture of  the  trust  which  we  hold  for  them  that  come  after,  and 
our  duty  in  the  discharge  of  that  trust. 

I  know  not  how  I  can  better  serve  the  purpose  for  which 
a  preacher  was  to  be  appointed  for  the  present  year  than  by 
drawing  your  attention  to  certain  grounds  of  thankfulness  and 
of  watchfulness  connected  with  the  principles  upon  which  our 
ecclesiastical  system  is  based,  as  these  may  be  inferred  from 
the  course  pursued  by  the  Church  in  New  York  in  the  work 


IO  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

of  organization,  which  we  seem  now  particularly  to  commemo- 
rate ;  and  then,  with  such  brief  allusion  as  occasion  may  re- 
quire and  time  may  permit,  noting  something  of  the  process 
of  that  growth,  through  which  we  have,  by  God's  mercy,  at- 
tained our  present  stature.  And  I  bespeak  your  attention  to 
these  reflections,  in  the  same  spirit  of  candor  and  thankfulness 
in  which  I  am  disposed  to  present  them,  believing  that  those 
institutions  by  which  the  administration  of  our  spiritual  life  in 
the  Church  is  guarded,  are  as  worthy  of  our  observation  and 
care  as  were  the  material  defenses  of  the  Holy  City  of  such 
regard  on  the  part  of  the  chosen  people  of  old  ;  and  believing, 
too,  that  we  cannot  rightly  provide  for  them  that  come  after, 
unless  we  have  first  heartily  appreciated  the  example  and  in- 
fluence of  them  that  went  before. 

We  look  back  to  the  Convention  of  1785,  as  fixing  the  date 
of  the  organization  of  the  Diocese  of  New  York.  That  the 
Diocese  came  then  first  into  being,  is  more  than  can  with 
strict  propriety  be  said,  unless  we  regard  the  Convention  as 
the  Diocese.  In  effect,  the  Church  in  New  York  existed  as  a 
distinct  Diocese  when  the  jurisdiction  over  it  of  its  tradition- 
ary Diocesan,  the  Bishop  of  London,  was  abandoned  as  a 
consequence  of  the  recognition,  by  Great  Britain,  of  the  Col- 
ony of  New  York  as  an  independent  State.  Formally  com- 
plete the  Diocese  did  not  become  until  Bishop  Provoost, 
having  been  consecrated  at  Lambeth  in  1787,  began  the  exer- 
cise of  his  Episcopal  jurisdiction  within  the  State.  But,  look- 
ing to  the  first  step  taken  in  the  conscious  possession  of  an 
independent  corporate  life,  we  may  properly  enough  regard 
the  present  occasion  as  the  Centennial  of  the  Diocese  of  New 
York. 

How  far,  when  that  first  step  was  taken,  the  distinction 
may  have  been  realized  between  the  Church  in  a  State,  con- 
sidered as  the  Clergy  and  Laity  grouped  within  an  inde- 
pendent civil  jurisdiction,  and  the  Church  in  a  Diocese, 
considered  as  the  Clergy  and  Laity  occupying  a  territory 
constituting  the  field  for  the  jurisdiction  of  a  single  Bishop, 
it  is  not  necessary  to  consider.  In  fact,  the  distinction 
could  hardly  have  been  noted,  further  than  that  the  Church 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   TRINITY   CHURCH.  II 

in  a  State  being  organized,  it  would  be  regarded  as  forming, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  the  jurisdiction  of  a  single  Bishop. 
Neither  the  number  of  the  faithful,  nor  the  facility  of  pro- 
curing Bishops,  was  then  such  as  to  point  to  the  probability 
of  having  more  Bishops  than  one  in  a  single  State.  The 
Churchmen  of  New  York  in  1785  held  the  position  of  the 
Church  in  a  State  incomplete  for  want  of  a  Bishop  ;  and,  as 
in  the  supplying  of  that  want  they  attained  the  position  of  a 
complete  Diocese,  so  it  is  but  reasonable  to  regard  them  as 
having  held,  before  that,  the  position  of  a  Diocese  tempo- 
rarily deprived  of  a  Diocesan.  In  short,  they  held,  practically, 
at  the  time  of  their  first  organization,  the  position  of  the 
Church  in  a  State,  and  of  the  Church  in  a  Diocese,  according 
as  we  regard  their  relations  to  political  or  to  ecclesiastical 
divisions  ;  incomplete,  indeed,  in  either  aspect,  but  capable  of 
completion,  and  actually  in  due  time  proceeding  to  comple- 
tion in  both  aspects — and  in  both  at  once. 

Two  conditions  characterized  their  position.  In  the  first 
place  they  were  members  of  the  Church  of  Christ  in  com- 
munion with  the  Church  of  England,  under  whose  rightful 
jurisdiction  they  had  received  their  baptisms  and  ordinations. 
In  the  second  place  they  were  so  situated  as  to  be  able  to  act 
in  the  matter  of  organization  without  being  responsible  to  any 
external  authority  whatever.  One  of  these  conditions  was, 
no  doubt,  an  offset  to  the  other.  There  were  many  courses 
which,  under  the  first,  it  would  have  been  morally  impossible 
for  them  to  adopt,  which,  under  the  second,  it  might  be  said 
that  they  were  quite  at  liberty  to  take.  As  members  of  the 
Church  of  England,  they  could  not,  without  forfeiting  their 
unity  with  that  Church,  depart  from  the  substance  either  of 
her  doctrine,  discipline,  or  worship.  But  as  an  independent 
body,  they  might  in  fact  have  shaped  their  course  as  they 
pleased.  Do  I  state  this  independence  too  strongly?  Not 
at  all.  The  civil  power  made  no  claim  upon  their  allegiance 
in  matters  of  religion.  The  Episcopate  under  which  their 
membership  in  the  Church  had  been  established  had  of  neces- 
sity left  them  to  themselves,  and  they  had  no  Bishops  of  their 
own.     Nor  was  there  any  power  amongst  the  members  of 


12  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

their  Communion  scattered  throughout  the  newly  constituted 
States  to  which  the  churchmen  of  New  York  were  responsible. 
The  churchmen  of  every  State  were  in  like  position.  It  could 
not  be  pretended  that  the  churchmen  of  one  State  were  re- 
sponsible to  those  of  another;  nor  that  those  of  one  State 
were  responsible  to  those  of  all  the  rest  considered  as  a  whole, 
nor  to  any  body  representing  that  multitude.  There  was  in 
fact  no  such  body.  The  General  Convention,  considered  as  a 
representative  body  of  supreme  legislative  powers,  came  first 
into  being  in  1789;  and  then  claimed  the  obedience  only  of 
such  churches  in  States  as  acceded  to  its  Constitution.  Be- 
fore our  Convention  of  1785  there  had  been  a  meeting  of  a 
body  which  may  be  said  to  have  formed  the  nucleus  of  the 
subsequent  General  Convention ;  but  the  meeting  was  tenta- 
tive, and  its  acts  stood  on  recommendation  only,  having  no 
sort  of  authority.  So  that  the  churchmen  of  New  York  could 
not  have  been  more  independent  than  they  were. 

In  calling  attention  to  the  independent  position  of  these 
men  I  emphasize  the  mercies  shown  to  this  spiritual  house  in 
the  course  which  they  adopted.  Their  very  freedom  from 
accountability — their  power  to  go  wrong  in  laying  foundations 
upon  which  future  generations  were  to  build — enhances  not 
only  our  admiration  of  their  wisdom,  but  also  our  thankful- 
ness for  the  Divine  guidance  vouchsafed  to  them.  And  we 
must  remember  that  many  things  which,  in  the  hallowed  use 
of  a  century,  have  become  matters  of  course  to  us,  were  to  a 
great  extent  matters  of  experiment  with  them.  Everything 
seemed  open  and  unsettled ;  and,  amid  the  anxieties  and  un- 
certainties of  such  a  situation,  they  were  to  choose  a  course 
of  action  which  would  determine  the  position  of  the  Church 
in  New  York  ;  and  which  might  unchurch  it  altogether,  or 
hamper  it  with  such  impediments  as  would  have  made  it  hard 
to  be  proved,  by  and  by,  whether  it  had  a  name  to  live  at  all. 
But  the  course  which  they  did  pursue  was  remarkable,  both 
for  its  conservatism  of  the  essentials  of  their  rightful  inheri- 
tance of  faith  and  order  and  for  its  progressiveness  in  the 
adaptation  of  new  ideas  to  the  welfare  of  the  Church.  Con- 
servative in  respect  to  the  necessity  of  the  Episcopate,  and 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   TRINITY   CHURCH.  1 3 

the  preservation  of  that  form  of  sound  words,  both  of  faith 
and  worship,  which  was  contained  in  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  the  Church  in  New  York  yet  availed  itself  of  its  inde- 
pendent position  to  give  its  influence  in  support  of  ideas 
which,  if  not  altogether  new  in  the  Church,  were  certainly 
new  in  the  systematized  form  which  they  were  now  assuming. 

Conservative  and  traditional  ideas  pointed  to  the  necessity 
of  the  completion  of  the  Church  by  the  Episcopate,  and  an 
Episcopate,  too,  of  the  purely  primitive  pattern  ;  that  is  to 
say,  without  that  temporal  power  and  dignity  which  the  ene- 
mies of  Episcopacy  were  fond  of  assuming  to  be  essential  to 
it.  But  conservatism  stopped  here,  and  was  desirous  that 
the  Bishop,  when  obtained,  should  be,  also  according  to  the 
primitive  pattern,  the  Governor  of  that  portion  of  Christ's 
kingdom  on  earth  which  was  committed  to  him.  Where  con- 
servatism rested,  however,  the  new  ideas  began  to  form,  and 
the  claim  was  made  that  Bishops,  however  supreme  in  the 
exercise  of  purely  spiritual  authority,  were  not  the  only  ones 
concerned  in  the  government  of  the  Church,  but  that  the 
other  Clergy  and  the  Laity  were  to  be  admitted  into  some 
share  of  that  government. 

There  was  indeed  nothing  new  in  the  thought  that  arbi- 
trary, unchecked  power  was  not  characteristic  of  the  Episcopal 
office,  although  it  sometimes  might  have  been  of  single  Bish- 
ops. In  the  best  ages  of  the  Church,  not  only  were  the 
Bishops,  as  the  co-equal  administrators  of  a  common  office, 
a  check  upon  each  other,  but  also  each  one,  in  his  own  juris- 
diction, was  presumed  to  regulate  his  government  with  due 
regard  to  the  judgment  and  feeling  of  his  people.  The 
maxim  that  they  should  do  nothing  without  the  Bishop  was 
hardly  more  fully  recognized  than  its  converse,  that  the 
Bishop  should  do  nothing  without  them.  Yet  this  by  no 
means  rested  on  the  principle  of  a  common  authority.  On  the 
contrary,  the  authority  belonged  to  the  Bishop.  But  then, 
his  was  a  power  which  worked  by  love  and  not  by  fear ;  not 
like  that  of  the  Civil  Ruler,  by  coercion,  but  by  the  free  con- 
sent of  those  whose  obedience  was  for  conscience'  sake.  Now, 
however,  that  which  in   the  previous  history  of  the  Church 


14  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

had  been  permitted  on  a  principle  of  love,  seems  to  have  been 
assumed  as  a  matter  of  right,  needing  only  to  be  declared  and 
acted  upon.  Among  the  principles  of  Ecclesiastical  Union, 
proposed  by  the  voluntary  gathering  of  1784  in  New  York, 
was  that  which  declared  that  the  concurrence  of  both  Clergy 
and  Laity  should  be  necessary  to  give  validity  to  every  meas- 
ure adopted  by  the  General  Convention,  which  was  to  con- 
sist of  clerical  and  lay  deputies  from  the  Church  in  each  State. 
And  this  principle  retained  its  place  throughout  the  process 
of  organization,  and  was  imbedded  in  the  General  and  Dioce- 
san Constitutions. 

And  the  origin  of  this  idea  is  traceable,  not  to  the  infer- 
ences which  some  have  been  fain  to  draw  from  the  fifteenth 
chapter  of  the  Book  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles ;  nor  to 
arguments  based  upon  the  exercise  of  an  exterior  jurisdiction 
by  the  civil  authority  in  England  over  the  Ministers  of  the 
Word  and  Sacraments,  in  which  the  Sovereign  is  assumed  to 
represent  the  inherent  right  of  the  people  ;  but  rather  to  the 
peculiar  training  and  position  of  those  who  were  called  upon 
to  organize  the  Church  in  the  American  States  as  a  body 
distinct  from  the  Church  of  England. 

I  do  not  now  argue  for  civil  analogies  in  our  American 
Church  system — though  I  take  leave  to  remark  that  it  will  be 
an  evil  day  for  the  Church  which  claims  a  Divine  mission  to 
be  the  Church  of  the  Nation,  when  its  members  either  forget 
or  erase  the  lineaments  which  the  God  of  Nations  and  of 
Churches  has,  in  His  providence,  stamped  alike  upon  the 
face  of  Church  and  Republic — but  I  do  affirm  that  the  train- 
ing which  the  founders  of  our  American  Conventional  sys- 
tem had  received  during  the  Constitutional  controversies  of 
the  period  of  the  Revolution,  was  such  as  to  have  profoundly 
impressed  upon  them  the  conviction  that  it  was  indispensable 
to  a  good  government  that  it  should  be  a  government  by 
chosen  representatives  of  the  whole  body  governed.  Those 
who  were  not  of  this  conviction  were  in  that  minority  whose 
conservatism  did  not  willingly  ally  itself,  as  did  that  of  the 
majority,  with  the  spirit  which  was  fain  to  take  what  modern 
experience  seemed  to  approve,  and  graft  it  in  with  that  which 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   TRINITY   CHURCH.  1 5 

had  the  warrant  of  an  authority  of  more  ancient  recogni- 
tion. 

And,  apart  from  their  training,  the  position  of  those  to 
whom  our  Conventional  system  is  traceable  was  such  as  in  a 
manner  to  drive  them  to  its  adoption.  Had  the  Church  been 
provided  with  Bishops  to  whom  the  faithful  had  all  along 
been  accustomed  to  defer,  there  would  have  been  no  more 
need  of  these  gatherings  in  the  Church  of  that  day  and  place, 
than  there  had  been  in  the  Church  of  any  other  age  and 
country.  The  Episcopal  government,  qualified  by  the  Dio- 
cesan Synod,  and  checked  by  the  Provincial  Council,  would 
have  come  as  naturally  into  operation  as  it  had  ever  come 
when  the  Church  had  existed  in  its  entirety  and  autonomy 
in  any  Nation.  But  the  Church  in  this  country,  however  au- 
tonomous, was  not  entire.  Its  Clergy  and  Laity  were  thrown 
together  in  the  various  States,  upon  their  own  resources. 
They  were  constrained  to  provide  for  themselves,  and  to 
arrange  their  own  polity,  as  supposing  indeed  that  Bish- 
ops would  be  supplied  to  them,  but  as  conscious,  also, 
that  in  point  of  fact  Bishops  had  not  been  supplied  to  them. 
And  so  in  the  system  which  they  adopted,  while  with  true 
conservatism  they  held  fast  the  necessary  and  essential  prin- 
ciples of  faith  and  order  which  were  their  rightful  inheritance, 
they  thought  themselves  at  liberty  to  combine  them  with 
others,  which,  if  they  had  not  the  sanction  of  Divine  author- 
ity and  immemorial  tradition,  they  regarded  as  having  at 
least  the  warrant  of  a  sound  reason  and  a  just  expediency. 

We  cannot  indeed  look  to  the  Church  in  New  York  as  the 
inaugurator  of  that  system,  which,  combining  the  principles 
of  Episcopal  authority  and  of  government  by  chosen  repre- 
sentatives, was  ultimately  incorporated  into  the  constitution 
of  the  general  Ecclesiastical  Union.  But  certainly  the  example 
and  influence  of  this  Church  was  such  as  to  further  the  estab- 
lishment of  that  system.  That  it  cordially  adopted  the  system, 
and  made  it  its  own,  is  apparent  from  the  fact  that  laymen 
as  well  as  clergymen  composed  its  first  Convention  ;  and  that 
it  was,  from  the  beginning,  of  that  number  which  sought  to 
organize  a  union  between  the  Churches  in  the  States,  founded 


l6  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

on  the  principle  of  the  joint  representation  of  Clergy  and  Laity, 
even  before  they  sought  their  completion  in  the  Episcopate. 
And  the  position  of  New  York  was  such  as  to  make  its  ex- 
ample and  influence  of  essential  importance  to  the  accomplish- 
ment of  that  Union.  This  position  was  intermediate  in  more 
ways  than  one — I  will  not  say  between  extremes,  but — be- 
tween those  who  were  seeking  the  same  general  objects  of  the 
settlement  and  unity  of  Christ's  kingdom  from  quite  different 
standpoints.  On  one  side  of  it  was  Connecticut,  the  cradle 
of  the  American  Episcopate;  on  the  other,  Pennsylvania,  the 
birth-place  of  the  American  system  of  representative  Church 
Government.  And  as,  in  1783,  New  York  was  ready  to  yield 
one  of  her  own  Presbyters  to  the  quest  of  Connecticut  for  its 
first  Bishop,*  so,  within   New  York,  in  1784,  were  assembled 

*  Bishop  Seabury's  name  is  always,  and  rightly,  associated  with  Connecticut ; 
yet  all  of  his  ministry,  as  distinguished  from  his  Episcopate  (except  a  very  short 
interval  of  service  in  New  Jersey  immediately  after  his  ordination  in  1753),  was  in 
New  York.  The  first  fourteen  years  of  his  life,  and  the  last  eleven  as  Bishop, 
were  spent  in  Connecticut;  during  the  rest,  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  whole,  he  be- 
longed to  New  York.  Any  one  who  is  curious  in  such  matters  may  trace  the 
proportion  somewhat  further  in  the  ministerial  work  of  this  family  ;  a  work 
which  was  indebted  for  its  first  planting,  and  part  of  its  subsequent  increase,  to 
Connecticut,  but  which  has  for  the  most  part  been  performed  in  New  York. 
The  Bishop's  father,  Rev.  Samuel  Seabury,  A.M.,  ordained  in  1730,  was  Rector 
of  St.  George's  Church  in  Hempstead,  Long  Island,  in  the  Colony  of  New  York, 
for  the  twenty-one  years  preceding  his  death  in  1764.  The  Bishop's  ministry  in 
New  York  from  the  time  of  his  father's  death  until  he  embarked  for  consecration 
in  1783,  was  nineteen  years.  His  son,  Rev.  Charles  Seabury,  ordained  in  1793, 
was  rector  of  Caroline  Church,  Setauket,  Long  Island,  from  1814  until  his  death 
'n  1844,  thirty  years.  The  son  of  Charles,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Seabury,  D.D., 
ordained  in  1826,  was,  at  the  time  of  his  father's  death,  a  Presbyter  of  the  Diocese 
of  New  York,  and  so  continued  twenty-eight  years  after  until  his  death,  in  1872, 
from  which  date  up  to  this  time,  his  son,  the  present  writer,  has  also  been  serving 
in  New  York,  thirteen  years.  Thus,  of  a  period  of  one  hundred  and  fifty-five 
consecutive  years,  during  which  the  Ministry  has,  by  the  singular  blessing  of  God, 
been  handed  clown  through  these  five  successive  generations,  one  hundred  and 
eleven  years,  or  nearly  three-fourths,  have  been  spent  in  New  York;  nearly  half 
of  this  one  hundred  and  eleven  having  been  in  that  part  of  New  York  which  now 
constitutes  the  Diocese  of  Long  Island.  The  proportion  of  service  both  in  New 
York  and  Long  Island  would  be  larger  if  those  years  were  counted  during  which 
the  ministry  of  father  and  son  was  carried  on  contemporaneously.  This  note  is, 
indeed,  a  digression  from  the  subject  of  this  part  of  the  present  paper,  but  may 
not  be  considered  out  of  place  in  its  relation  to  the  whole.     So  remarkable  an 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   TRINITY   CHURCH.  1 7 

the  Clergy  and  Laity,  from  whom  issued  the  first  call  to  the 
Churches  in  the  several  States,  recommending  the  Union, 
afterwards  represented  by  the  General  Convention.*  And  al- 
though for  a  short  time,  under  the  influence  apparently  of  po- 
litical antagonisms  not  yet  expired,  New  York  seemed  to  be- 
grudge the  use  which  Connecticut  had  made  of  the  gift  which 
it  had  received  in  trust  for  the  establishment  of  the  Epis- 
copate, yet  that  feeling,  short-lived  as  it  was,  was  not  of  a 
nature  to  hinder  its  promotion  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Union  as 
designed  to  further  the  best  interests  of  the  Church  in  all  the 
States,  f 

In  the  course  thus  pursued  by  the  Church  in  New  York, 
there  is  plain  evidence  of  its  recognition  of  these  principles 
as  fundamental  in  the  Ecclesiastical  system — the  necessity  of 
the  Episcopate  in  order  to  the  perpetuation  of  the  lawful 
Ministry  of  the  Word  and  Sacraments ;  the  substantial  unity 
in  doctrine,  discipline,  and  worship  of  this  Church  with  the 
Church  of  England,  whence  it  was  derived;  the  right  of  the 
Clergy  and  Laity  to  share  representatively  in  such  powers  of 
government  as  are  distinguishable  from  the  power  to  exercise 
the  spiritual  functions  of  the  Ministry;  and  the  right  of  the 
Church  in  this  State  to  a  co-equal  representation  with  the 
Church  in  every  other  State,  in  an  Ecclesiastical  Union  con- 
stituted for  the  regulation  of  matters  of  common  interest  to 
the  Church  in  all  the  States  represented  in  it. 

Of  the  last  of  these  principles,  however,  there  has  been  an 

association  with  the  Church  in  New  York  seems  not  unworthy  of  notice  in  a  paper 
illustrative  of  the  history  of  that  Church. 

*  Bishop  White's  preface  to  Bioren's  edition  of  reprint  of  early  Journals  of 
General  Convention. 

It  is  merely  an  incident,  but  surely  not  uninteresting,  that  also  in  New  York, 
took  place  that  first  consecration  in  this  country  through  which  every  one  of  our 
Bishops  traces  his  succession,  and  in  which  were  united  not  merely  the  Episcopates 
of  Connecticut,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Virginia,  but,  through  them,  the 
lines  of  the  Scottish  and  English  Churches,  involving  the  reunion  also  of  the  some- 
time divergent  lines  of  Sancroft  and  Tillotson.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Claggett  was  con- 
secrated for  Maryland  in  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  September  17,  1792,  by 
Bishops  Provoost,  White,   Madison,  and  Seabury. 

\  New  York  Journal,  1786.  See  also  Bishop  White's  Memoirs,  2d  edition, 
page  161. 

2 


1 8  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

important  modification,  which,  resulting  as  it  has  from  the 
history  of  the  Church  in  New  York,  is  of  peculiar,  though  not 
exclusive  interest  to  us. 

As  the  Church  increased,  there  came  up  first  in  this  State 
the  problem  of  the  division  of  Dioceses,  involving  some  ques- 
tions gravely  affecting  the  Ecclesiastical  system.  Hitherto, 
not  alone  in  New  York,  but  in  the  other  States  as  well,  the 
Church  in  the  State  and  the  Church  in  the  Diocese  had  been 
identical.  For  although  there  had  been  instances  of  tem- 
porary union  of  Churches  in  different  States  under  one 
Episcopal  jurisdiction,  yet  the  Churches  in  those  States  were 
related  to  the  Union  not  in  groups,  but  individually,  each 
acceding  as  such  to  the  general  Constitution  ;  which,  while  it 
provided  for  the  admission  of  the  Church  in  any  State,  made 
no  provision  for  the  recognition  as  a  constituent  member  of 
the  Union,  of  any  Church  that  was  not  the  Church  in  a  State. 
If  the  Church  in  a  State  should  be  divided  into  two  or  more 
Dioceses,  each  of  these  would  be  as  much  a  Church  as  the 
whole  body  within  the  State  had  hitherto  been.  Which  of 
these  Churches  would  occupy  the  position  of  a  constituent 
member  of  the  Union  ?  How  could  that  position  be  held  by 
them  all  except  on  the  theory  that  the  Union  was  one  of 
Dioceses,  rather  than  of  the  Church  in  States?  Yet  the  Union 
was  not  professedly  a  union  of  Dioceses,  and  only  practically 
so  because  the  Dioceses  were  conterminous  with  the  States. 
The  precedent  made  in  the  division  of  New  York,  however, 
settled  the  principle  that  every  Diocese  within  the  Union, 
whether  new  or  old,  and  spreading  over  the  whole  State  or 
not,  stands  on  the  same  footing  with  every  other  Diocese  ; 
each  one  being  an  integral  part  of  the  whole:  and  following 
the  lead  of  this  principle,  the  Union  has  become  both  nom- 
inally and  actually  a  union  of  the  Church  in  Dioceses,  instead 
of  a  union  of  the  Church  in  States.* 

Yet  the  fact  that  the  Church  within  a  State,  although  ex- 

*  In  the  wording  of  the  Constitution  Diocese  was  substituted  for  State,  as  a 
part  of  the  amendment  of  1S38,  under  which  the  Church  in  the  State  of  New 
York  was  divided  into  two  Dioceses.  Journal  Gen.  Conv.,  1838,  pp.  24-26,  90, 
and  pp.  70-106. 


PROCEEDINGS  AT   TRINITY   CHURCH.  19 

isting  in  several  Dioceses,  has  a  community  of  interest  differ- 
ent from  that  of  the  Churches  existing  in  distinct  States,  has 
not  been  ignored  ;  and  while  the  principle  has  not  been  form- 
ally expressed  in  the  written  Constitution,  it  has  none  the  less 
been  constantly  recognized  in  the  tradition  and  practice  of 
the  Church,  that  Dioceses  are  to  be  kept  within  State  lines, 
and  are  not  permanently  to  infringe  upon  or  disregard  them, 
upon  any  plea  of  proximity,  or  other  ground  of  convenience. 
In  no  respect  is  this  community  more  important  than  in  its 
relation  to  the  law-making  power  of  the  several  States ;  and 
never  has  it  been  of  more  solemn  consequence  than  now  in  the 
State  of  New  York,  if  we  are  to  continue  in  the  enjoyment  of 
that  freedom  which  depends  upon  the  principle  that  the  civil 
authority  shall  make  no  law  respecting  the  establishment  of 
religion.  If  the  Canon  on  Federate  Councils — also  growing 
out  of  the  position  of  the  Church  in  New  York — has  done  no 
other  good  than  this,  it  has  at  least  emphasized,  with  the 
concurrence  of  the  whole  Church,  the  principle  of  the  com- 
munity of  the  work  and  interest  of  several  Dioceses  constitut- 
ing the  Church  within  a  State.  Whether  these  two  principles 
—that  the  Diocese  is  the  unit  in  the  Ecclesiastical  system,  and 
that  the  grouping  of  Dioceses,  so  far  as  may  be  consistent 
with  their  relations  to  the  National  Church,  is  to  be  within 
the  limits  of  the  States  which  compose  the  Nation — do  not 
indicate  the  true  solution  of  that  other  problem  of  the  re- 
adjustment of  the  representation  in  the  General  Convention, 
which  must  bye-and-bye,  for  good  or  evil,  be  settled,  remains 
to  be  seen.  But  standing  as  we  do  to-day,  on  the  border  line 
between  the  two  centuries,  it  may  perhaps  be  permitted  one 
to  remark  that  the  abandonment  of  the  original  principle  of 
the  representation  in  the  General  or  National  Council,  of  the 
Church  in  the  several  States,  has  been  unwittingly  the  cause 
not  only  of  an  increase  of  that  Council,  but  of  an  indefinite 
and  illimitable  increase  ;  and  that  a  return  to  that  principle, 
coupled  with  the  recognition  of  the  right  of  the  several  Dio- 
ceses within  a  State,  both  individually  and  as  a  province,  to 
govern  themselves,  within  Constitutional  limits,  while  it  might 
be  made  the  occasion  of  all  needful  reduction  in  the  numbers 


20  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

of  the  General  Convention,  and  would  involve  no  more  in- 
equality than  now  exists,  would  also  lead  to  the  establishment 
of  such  a  Patriarchate  as  the  world  has  never  yet  witnessed. 

But  to  refrain  from  speculation,  and  to  return  to  the  prin- 
ciples upon  which  our  fathers  have  set  up  the  houses  of  our 
Holy  City,  have  we  not  a  just  right  to  regard  them  as  a  part 
of  our  inheritance  of  which  the  test  of  time  has  proved  the 
value?     There  is  room  indeed  for  the  varying  of  individual 
judgments  as  to  abstract  questions  involved  in  them  ;  but  the 
process  by  which  they  were  settled  seems  plainly  to  disclose 
the  hand  of  Providence;  and  he  will  be  a  rash  man,  whatever 
may  be  his  private  judgment,  who  will  venture  to  withhold 
his  thankful  acknowledgments.    Particularly  may  we  be  grate- 
ful for  the  moderation  which  has  marked  the  application  of 
these    principles.     Some  tendencies   to   the   forgetfulness  of 
what  was  due  to  the  principle  of  an  authority  existing  in  the 
Church,  irrespective  of  human  constitutions,  undoubtedly  there 
were.     But  these  were  in  part  checked  in  the  beginning,  and 
in  part  have  been  so  overruled    that  looking  back  through 
the  century,  we  cannot  point  to  any  serious  conflict  which  has 
arisen  in  the  administration  of  a  government  whose  powers 
are  derived  partly  from  the  Episcopate,  and  partly  from  the 
Clergy  and  people.    It  has  been  considered  by  some  to  be  the 
weak  point  in  our  system  that  it  permits  the  Laity  to  legislate 
in  regard  to  doctrine.    If  you  take  into  account,  however,  the 
absolute  negative  of  the  House  of  Bishops,  and  the  even  bal- 
ance of  clerical  and  lay  representation,  you  can  hardly  fear 
that  the  Laity  can  ever  usurp  the  right  which  by  the  Divine 
commission  belongs  to  the  Apostolic  Ministry.     In  fact  we 
have  the  Catholic  Faith  ;  and  we  can  never  lose  it  except  on  the 
extravagant  supposition  that  the  Bishops  and  Clergy  should 
combine  to  throw  it  away.     The  very  utmost  that  can  be 
alleged  against  us  here,  is  that  the  teaching  body  cannot  legis- 
latively formulate  doctrine  without  the  concurrence  of  the  lay 
representation  ;  and  whether  this  amounts  to  anything  more 
than  the  salutary  check  of  the  practical  upon  the  intellectual, 
the  spiritual,  and  the  professional,  is  at  least  a  fair  question 
for  the  judgment  of  reasonable  men.     Certainly  it  is  but  sim- 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   TRINITY   CHURCH.  21 

pie  justice  to  our  Laity  to  say  that  their  active  part  in  our 
system  has  generally  been,  of  their  own  free  will,  confined  to 
the  care  of  such  temporal  matters  of  administration  in  the 
Church,  as  must  concern  even  a  spiritual  society  of  men. 
And  in  regard  to  this  power  in  the  Church,  while  in  strictness 
it  is  as  much  inherent  in  the  Episcopal  office  as  is  the  power 
purely  spiritual,  yet  it  is  not  so  exclusively  tied  to  it  as,  like 
the  other,  to  be  incapable  of  cession  or  of  waiver.  And,  apart 
from  the  most  primitive  times,  it  has  commonly  been  ceded 
or  waived  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  under  one  form  or  an- 
other. And,  for  the  rest,  is  it  not  certain  that  the  very  pecu- 
liarities of  our  system  have  enlisted  in  it  the  most  active  in- 
terest of  all  classes  of  its  members ;  have  procured  for  it  the 
growing  respect  of  foreign  branches  of  the  same  Communion, 
and  even  the  attention  of  thoughtful  men  out  of  that  Commun- 
ion ;  and  have  thus  not  only  increased  beyond  all  precedent 
its  strength  and  usefulness  in  its  own  immediate  work,  but 
have  also  greatly  enhanced  its  influence  in  the  community 
wherein  it  dwells,  and  have  given  it  a  singular  fitness  for  the 
furtherance  of  that  Divine  mission  of  Christian  unity  which 
it  should  be  the  prime  object  of  all  Ecclesiastical  systems  to 
promote. 

It  is  easy,  I  know,  on  an  occasion  of  this  sort,  to  confuse 
thankfulness  with  mere  self-congratulation.  I  have  no  wish 
however  to  fall  into  this  strain.  Let  me  then  remind  you 
that  the  great  advantage  of  these  occasions  lies  in  the  oppor- 
tunity which  they  naturally  afford,  not  only  for  thankful  com- 
memoration of  the  past,  but  also  for  careful  consideration  of 
the  lessons  which  it  teaches,  and  for  watchful  observance  of 
the  tendencies  likely  to  affect  the  future.  If  we  are  to  mark 
well  our  bulwarks,  this  is  not  merely  to  note  how  admirably 
fitted  for  usefulness  they  have  hitherto  been  ;  but  also  to  ob- 
serve their  aptitude  to  sustain  such  attacks  as  may  hereafter 
be  made  upon  them.  If  we  are  to  set  up  our  houses,  it  is  not 
merely  that  they  may  remind  us  of  the  comfort  and  shelter 
which  they  have  afforded  to  our  fathers  and  ourselves  ;  but 
also  that  we  may  leave  them  in  such  condition  that  our 
children  may  with  advantage  occupy  them.     That  is  but  a 


22  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

selfish  doctrine  which  teaches  that  the  world  in  every  age 
belongs  to  the  passing  generation,  and  that  those  who  inherit 
the  treasures  and  the  wisdom  of  the  past  have  no  responsi- 
bility for  the  happiness  of  them  that  come  after;  for  the  chil- 
dren ought  not  to  lay  up  for  the  parents,  but  the  parents  for 
the  children.  And  we  are  to  take  heed  to  the  bearing  of  our 
influence  in  the  transmission  of  those  principles  which  we 
have  inherited. 

I  say  to  the  bearing  of  our  influence;  for  surely  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Church  in  New  York  is  not  a  power  which  has 
been  felt  once  for  all  a  hundred  years  ago,  but  rather  one 
which  has  been  steadily  in  operation,  and  which  to-day  is,  and 
hereafter  will  be  felt  throughout  the  Union,  unless  it  be  un- 
true to  itself.  And  although  we  now  commemorate  in  form 
the  Centennial  of  the  Diocese  of  New  York,  yet,  after  all  is  it 
not  in  substance,  the  Centennial  of  the  Church  in  New  York; 
since  throughout  the  century  that  Church  has  been  in  effect 
one ;  and  since  for  more  than  half  the  century  it  was  one  in 
form  also?  And  what  just  influence  cannot  be  predicated  of 
the  substantial  unity  of  that  Church  with  its  five  Bishoprics, 
and  as  many  Conventions  of  men  who,  from  their  very  posi- 
tion, may  be  presumed  to  possess  capabilities  of  influence  in- 
ferior to  none?  May  the  Church  in  New  York  never  forget 
to  cherish  and  cement,  not  merely  as  a  sentiment,  but  practi- 
cally, that  unity  in  which  it  has  always  lived,  and  in  which  it 
possesses  a  power  which  is  in  itself  a  sacred  trust,  and  vast 
responsibility! 

God  forbid  that  thus  speaking  I  should  seem  to  be  stimu- 
lating the  spirit  of  local  pride  and  jealousy !  When  we  urge 
men  individually  or  in  families  to  be  mindful  of  the  high 
privilege  of  their  vocation,  and  to  devote  their  energies  to  the 
extension  of  their  influence  in  the  community  wherein  they 
dwell,  this  is  not  for  rivalry,  but  for  the  good  of  all.  And  so 
we  look  upon  the  Church  in  the  Diocese  as  an  individual  in 
the  Commonwealth  of  Dioceses;  and  upon  the  Church  in  the 
State,  as  it  were  upon  a  family  in  the  same  Commonwealth ; 
and  we  urge  the  devotion  of  its  common  and  united  power  to 
the  best  interests  of  that  Commonwealth  ;  and  bid  it,  in  God's 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   TRINITY   CHURCH.  23 

name,  increase  both  its  power  of  influence,  and  the  influence 
itself,  not  for  the  attainment  or  exhibition  of  a  superiority- 
over  the  other  members  of  the  Commonwealth,  but  in  aid  of 
those  members,  and  for  their  good  as  well  as  its  own. 

It  would  not  come  within  the  privilege  of  my  present 
commission  to  propose  measures  for  the  adoption  of  the 
Church  either  within  the  Diocese  or  the  State.  But  I  am 
sure  it  will  be  allowed  to  fall  far  short  of  such  presumption, 
if,  keeping  still  to  the  line  of  observation  which  we  have  been 
pursuing,  I  press  upon  your  attention  not  only  the  privilege 
of  entering  on  the  work  of  another  century  on  the  basts  of 
principles  which  have  been  found  to  work  successfully  in  the 
past,  but  also  the  duty  of  bearing  in  mind  in  our  application 
and  transmission  of  those  principles,  the  tendencies  likely  to 
affect  them,  and  particularly  the  qualifying  influence  which 
the  public  opinion  of  the  Church  seems  to  have  been  exert- 
ing upon  them. 

When  I  speak  of  the  public  opinion  of  the  Church,  I  do 
not  mean  the  volatile  fancy  which  is  veered  about  by  every 
passing  wind  of  words,  but  rather  that  deliberate  judgment 
which  an  intelligent  community  is  capable  of  forming,  and 
which,  in  the  long  run,  is  sure  to  settle  down  upon  the  con- 
clusions which  legitimately  follow  from  those  premises  upon 
which,  whether  right  or  wrong,  it  has  been  taught  to  reason. 
In  a  system  like  ours,  in  which  not  only  the  authority  of 
office,  but  also  the  power  of  the  popular  will  is  represented,  it 
is  manifest  that  the  tendencies  of  such  an  influence  cannot  be 
too  carefully  watched  ;  and  the  change  which  has  taken  place 
in  the  common  understanding  of  some  of  the  principles  to 
which  I  have  referred  is  certainly  worthy  of  our  notice. 

How  very  much  more,  for  example,  seems  now  to  be 
involved  in  the  principle  of  our  substantial  unity  with  the 
Church  of  England  in  doctrine,  discipline,  and  worship,  than 
was  generally  realized  in  the  beginning.  Membership  in  the 
Church  of  England  was,  of  course,  the  birthright  of  an 
English  colonist ;  and  when  English  colonists  became  citi- 
zens of  independent  States  their  ecclesiastical  birthright  was 
by  no  means  lost,  although  it  came  under  different   condi- 


24  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

tions.  That  the  Church  here  was  the  same  Church  after,  as 
before  the  Revolution,  was  a  never  to  be  doubted  or  forgot- 
ten truth  ;  and  while  the  members  of  this  Church,  in  their 
new  organization,  were  free  from  obedience  to  such  laws  and 
judgments  as  might,  by  the  Church  of  England,  be  afterward 
imposed,  yet  they  could  not  be  deprived  of  that  inheritance 
of  Catholic  faith  and  order  to  which  that  Church  itself  had 
been  born.  And  among  those  who  asserted  the  substantial 
unity  of  the  Church  which  they  were  organizing,  with  the 
Church  of  England,  there  were  some  who  had  light  clearly  to 
discern,  and  who  held  high  amid  the  surrounding  darkness 
the  lamp  of  their  testimony  to  the  fact  and  the  value  of  this 
inheritance.  But  for  the  most  part,  no  doubt,  those  who 
made  this  claim  were  capable  of  no  retrospect  into  the 
Catholic  inheritance  of  the  past.  The  change  which  has 
come  about  is  that  those  who  realize  what  is  involved  in 
this  principle  are  no  longer  the  few,  but  the  many.  The 
danger  is  that  the  solidity  and  strength  of  that  appreciation 
may  be  thinned  and  weakened  in  its  diffusion,  and  that  men 
may  learn  to  be  in  love  with  that  which  they  do  not  rightly 
understand.  It  were  well  to  remember  that  there  are  two 
parts  in  the  privilege  of  this  principle,  of  which  one  is  the 
share  in  the  Catholic  inheritance,  and  the  other  is  the  means 
by  which  we  have  attained  that  share.  The  Catholic  inher- 
itance has  not,  indeed,  been  limited  to  the  line  of  English 
descent.  It  has  gone  out  through  the  world,  and  come  down 
through  the  generations,  with  more  or  less  of  accretion  or 
diminution.  But  it  is  our  right  and  duty  to  remember  that 
it  has  come  to  us  in  the  same  line  as  that  from  which  we 
have  derived  our  Anglo-Saxon  race,  and  language,  and  habit 
of  thought ;  and  to  have  our  horizon  enlarged  by  such  a 
regard  to  the  world-power  and  mission  of  that  race  and 
language,  that  we  may  be  narrowed  by  no  slavish  adherence 
either  to  insular  prejudices  or  to  Continental  notions,  whether 
the  offspring  of  German  inquisitiveness  or  of  Italian  effusive- 
ness. So  may  we  use  and  hand  down  a  doctrine  wherein 
faith  is  neither  transformed  into  reason  nor  deformed  into 
superstition,  but  is  cherished  as  the  Divine  light  and  guide  of 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   TRINITY   CHURCH.  2$ 

the  human  understanding — a  discipline  which  both  honors 
God  in  the  preservation  of  authority  and  cultivates  a  true 
manhood  by  the  recognition  of  the  rights  and  duties  of  the 
conscience ;  a  worship  pure  in  its  sole  devotion  to  the 
Triune  God,  and  beautiful  with  all  the  beauty  of  holiness — 
neither  the  fevered  officiousness  of  an  unenlightened  enthu- 
siasm nor  the  cold  tribute  of  an  overweening  self-sufficiency. 

If,  again,  we  look  to  the  principle  of  the  necessity  of  the 
Episcopate,  we  find,  also,  a  great  change.  It  would  not  be 
an  unjust  criticism  of  the  first  steps  in  our  organization  to 
say  that  the  Churchmen  of  that  period  were  disposed  to  lay 
somewhat  too  much  stress  on  the  rule  that  the  Bishops 
should  do  nothing  without  them,  and  somewhat  too  little 
stress  upon  the  converse  that  they  should  do  nothing  without 
the  Bishop.  But  certainly  in  the  past  century  there  has  been 
a  steady  tendency  towards  the  recognition  and  statement  of 
the  fact  that  there  are  powers  of  government,  distinct  from 
mere  functions,  inherent  in  the  Episcopal  office,  and  not 
derived  to  the  Bishops  as  the  mere  executives  of  Conven- 
tional will.  From  the  very  day  in  which  the  General  Con- 
stitution, in  the  year  of  its  adoption,  was  so  amended  as  to 
fix  the  position  of  the  House  of  Bishops  as  a  co-ordinate 
branch  of  the  supreme  legislature,  this  tendency  began  to  be 
felt.*  It  has  worked  slowly,  but  surely,  and  unless  our 
growth  is  to  come  to  an  end,  must  continue  to  work,  until 
that  Constitution  has  been  made  quite  consistent  with  itself 
by  the  removal  of  every  trace  of  the  fact  that,  in  its  forma- 
tion, the  Bishops,  except  as  Spiritual  functionaries  and  Con- 
ventional executives,  were  an  afterthought. 

But  with  regard  to  the  last  of  these  principles,  which 
asserts  the  right  of  the  Church  in  each  State  or  Diocese  to  a 
co-equal  representation  with  the  Church  in  every  other  State 
or  Diocese  in  the  Ecclesiastical  Union,  there  has  been  a 
change  more  notable  than  in  regard  to  the  others.  And 
while  this  change,  too,  is  a  change  in  the  common  under- 
standing   of  the    principle,    and    not    in    any  Constitutional 

*  Compare  Art.  3  of  the  Constitution  before  and  after  the  second  session  of 
General  Convention  in  1789. 


26  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

expression  of  it,  yet  it  is  a  change  of  different  character  and 
import  from  the  others,  and  one  which  indicates  a  tendency 
which,  if  not  checked,  will  be  apt  to  lead  to  results  quite 
subversive  of  the  principle  which  it  affects.  Other  changes 
have  been  in  the  nature  of  legitimate  inference  from  the  full 
and  fair  meaning  of  the  principle  itself.  This  change  in- 
volves a  flat  contradiction  of  the  principle.  And  the  infer- 
ence from  that  contradiction  is,  that  instead  of  being  a 
constituent  and  co-equal  member  of  an  Ecclesiastical  Union, 
the  Church  in  the  State  or  Diocese  is  the  mere  creature  and 
vassal  of  the  body  which  represents  that  Union.  Nothing 
can  be  more  marked,  or  more  remarkable,  than  the  change  in 
the  common  estimate  of  the  relation  of  the  Church  in  the 
State  or  Diocese  to  the  Ecclesiastical  Union,  which  has 
taken  place  in  less  than  a  century  since  that  Union  was 
completed.  This  is  not  to  question  in  any  way  the  suprem- 
acy of  General  Convention,  which  is  Constitutionally  beyond 
question,  but  it  is  to  warn  against  a  theory  which  will  not 
stand  the  test  of  history,  which  totally  inverts  the  legitimate 
process  of  the  construction  of  the  Constitution  and  laws  of 
General  Convention,  and  which  not  only  requires  obedience 
to  law,  but  also  leads  to  the  denial  of  the  liberty  to  act 
without  permission,  which  is  a  different,  and  an  intolerable 
thing. 

Two  forces  in  nature  have  been,  by  the  God  of  nature, 
ordained  in  order  to  the  preservation  of  the  due  relation  of 
the  several  parts  of  the  universe  within  a  common  system — 
the  power  which  draws  perpetually  toward  the  centre,  and 
the  power  which  retires  perpetually  from  it.  Upon  the  bal- 
ance of  these  powers  depends  the  continuance  of  the  system. 
Without  the  one,  the  several  parts  would  be  indistinguishably 
commingled  ;  without  the  other,  they  would  be  irrecoverably 
dispersed.  In  the  political  economy,  as  in  the  natural,  the 
same  forces,  by  the  same  Divine  law  of  order,  must  work  in 
the  like  balance,  or  there  is  no  good  nor  stable  government. 
There  must  be  the  cohesive  power  of  the  common  centre,  or 
there  will  be  anarchy  ;  there  must  be  the  liberty  of  a  lawful 
self-government,  or  there  will  be  tyranny.     We  may  depend 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   TRINITY   CHURCH.  27 

upon  it  that  these  principles  cannot  safely  be  disregarded  in 
the  working  of  such  a  system  as  ours,  the  history  of  whose 
origin  unmistakably  shows  it  to  have  been  based  upon  them. 
And  in  mitigation  of  the  apprehension  of  danger  from  the 
centrifugal  tendency  of  the  rights  of  Dioceses,  let  it  be  remem- 
bered that  in  the  recognition  of  the  authority  of  the  Episco- 
pate there  is  a  power  of  cohesion,  which  is  a  quite  sufficient 
balance  to  that  tendency.  In  the  cohesive  power  of  the 
Episcopate,  indeed,  lies  its  supreme  usefulness.  It  is  itself 
the  Divinely  appointed  centre  of  unity  in  the  Church  of  Christ. 
And  yet,  in  the  Divine  constitution  of  that  Church,  the  abso- 
lute unity  which  it  presupposes,  is  not  inconsistent  with  the 
equally  absolute  right  of  the  self-government  of  the  several 
Dioceses  in  all  matters  which  solely  concern  themselves. 
Warned  by  the  tendencies  in  the  community  about  us  to  the 
worst  forms  of  centralization  in  the  domineering  power  of 
corporate  bodies,  and  in  the  gradual  subjection  of  such  bodies 
to  the  individual  will  of  their  most  powerful  members ; 
warned  by  the  tendencies  of  human  nature  which  make  the 
Church  always  liable  to  the  dangers  which  affect  the  com- 
munity wherein  it  dwells,  let  us  never  forget,  or  suffer  it  to 
be  forgotten,  that  the  salvation  of  our  system  depends  upon 
the  preservation  of  its  equilibrium. 

Thus,  my  brethren,  not  as  I  would,  but  as  I  could,  I  have 
drawn  your  attention  to  some  particulars  of  thankfulness  and 
of  watchfulness  connected  with  the  principles  upon  which  our 
Ecclesiastical  system  is  based.  How  much  more  might  have 
been  noted  in  this  one  line  of  observation ;  how  many  other 
paths,  too,  as  we  walk  about  Sion,  open  before  us,  disclosing 
many  more  such  particulars  in  regard  to  other  subjects,  I  am 
but  too  well  aware.  In  truth  the  prospect  is  bewildering.  No 
power,  of  mine  at  least,  could  gather  into  one  train  of  con- 
nected thought  anything  like  a  general  view  of  all  that  crowds 
in  to  claim  a  place  in  our  present  remembrances.  Some  se- 
lection must  needs  be  made,  and  many  points  of  interest 
passed  by.  But  there  are  some  which  must  be  noted,  what- 
ever else  be  overlooked.  As  we  mark  the  bulwarks  by  which 
we  have  been  surrounded,  we  may  not  forget  the  example  and 


28  CENTENNIAL  CHURCH    HISTORY. 

influence  of  those  who,  during  the  progress  of  the  century, 
have  labored  to  set  up  the  houses  of  the  heavenly  city,  in  all 
the  good  works  of  wise  administration,  sound  teaching,  and 
tender  mercy,  into  whose  labors  we  are  entered.  The  increase 
in  the  number  and  efficiency  of  our  parishes  and  missions  ; 
the  multiplication  of  aids  to  the  development  of  the  spiritual 
life  ;  the  amazing  extension  of  all  kinds  of  associate  work,  and 
particularly  the  introduction  and  practical  recognition  of  re- 
ligious orders;  the  remarkable  character  of  our  Episcopate  ; 
the  conspicuous  ability  and  devotion  of  our  Clergy;  the  pow- 
erful support  furnished  by  the  lavish  devotion,  not  only  of  the 
means,  but  also  of  the  time,  learning,  and  wisdom  of  our  Laity 
— I  may  hardly  even  allude  to  these  points,  but  there  are  some 
things  in  connection  with  them  which  will  not  remain  unsaid. 

No  one  can  contemplate  the  history  of  these  manifold 
labors  without  realizing  that  our  life  has  been  one  of  steady 
and  of  healthful  growth ;  a  growth,  as  it  were,  from  infancy 
to  manhood  ;  a  growth,  indeed,  which  has  just  now  brought 
us  into  that  condition  in  which  we  begin  to  be  strong  to 
grapple  with  those  great  problems  which  must  ever  face  the 
Church  of  God  in  the  pursuit  of  the  regenerating  work  of  its 
Divine  Master. 

It  was  no  more  than  meet,  surely,  that  this  growth  should 
include  its  own  trials  and  discipline.  Nowhere  have  there 
been  more  trying  and  perilous  issues  to  be  met,  and  more 
serious  anxieties  with  respect  to  them,  than  in  New  York  ; 
and  if  the  example  and  influence  to  which  I  have  referred 
have  been  laudable  and  honorable  in  action,  so  also  have 
they  been  in  suffering.  In  one  phase  of  our  corporate  life,  in- 
deed, the  troubles  needful  for  our  discipline  seemed  to  reach 
their  climax,  when,  under  the  dispensation  of  an  inscrutable 
Providence,  the  Diocese  of  New  York  was  for  a  weary  period 
of  years  thrown  back  in  effect  to  that  state  of  incompleteness 
in  which  it  had  begun  its  organized  work.  Orphan  in  the 
Church  of  God,  yet  with  its  Father  still  living  !  What  trials 
and  anxieties,  heart-rending,  mind-bewildering,  did  it  not 
experience !  Yet  nowhere  in  its  history  has  it  afforded  a 
more   memorable   and    honorable   example,    if  patience    in 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   TRINITY   CHURCH.  29 

tribulation,  submission  to  lawfully  constituted  authority, 
wisdom  and  courage  in  the  endurance  of  responsibilities 
wholly  without  precedent,  be  worthy  of  remembrance  and  of 
honor.  And  nowhere  in  its  own  history,  or  in  that  of  other 
Dioceses,  has  there  been  furnished  a  better  test  of  the  practi- 
cal value  of  our  representative  system  than  was  afforded 
here.  Without  touching  at  all  upon  personal  feelings  one 
way  or  the  other — which,  if  my  own  heart  may  witness,  lie 
not  far  below  the  surface — it  is  surely  not  too  much  to  say, 
that  but  for  the  cool  and  enlightened  judgment,  and  the 
firm  and  strong  hand  with  which  the  representative  Diocese 
assumed  and  discharged  during  that  astounding  interval  the 
duties  of  government  properly  within  the  sphere  of  Diocesan 
action,  not  the  Church  in  New  York  only,  but  that  of  the 
entire  Union,  had  been  thrown  into  confusion  ;  and  I  think  I 
shall  be  upheld  in  adding  that  for  the  wise  counsel  which, 
under  God,  placed  the  Diocese  on  the  right  ground  in  that 
trial,  it  was  indebted  to  three  laymen,  who  for  that  and  many 
another  service  too,  deserve  to  be  had  in  unfailing  remem- 
brance— Samuel  Jones,  Gulian  C.  Verplanck,  and  Murray 
Hoffman. 

If  we  would  rightly  mark  the  several  steps  in  the 
growth  of  our  Church  life  to  its  present  maturity,  we  should 
remember  that  in  the  completion  of  its  organization,  and 
the  settlement  of  its  relation  to  the  Church  in  other  States, 
the  Church  in  New  York  had  done  little  more  than  recog- 
nize and  act  upon  the  fact  of  its  own  independent  life.  The 
question  of  what  that  life  was  it  had  hardly  considered. 
Chiefly  engrossed  with  what  may  be  called  the  political  as- 
pect, it  had  but  faintly  realized  its  spiritual  capacity  and 
mission.  The  services  of  religion,  after  the  somewhat  cold 
fashion  of  the  time,  were  of  course  duly  performed.  The 
Sacraments  of  the  Church  were  advocated,  but  still  kept 
rather  in  the  background.  The  Ministry  of  the  Church  was 
respected  for  the  piety  and  labors  of  individual  members  of 
it,  rather  than  for  its  Divine  authority.  The  Mission  work 
of  the  Church  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  been  begun.  How 
much  all  that  was  changed  in  less  than  thirty  years,  you  well 


30  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

know  ;  and  you  know  too  that  for  the  labor  and  the  conflict, 
the  eloquence  and  the  energy  that  under  God  changed  it,  we 
are  indebted  to  Bishop  Hobart.  To  no  one  man,  perhaps,  is 
the  Church  in  New  York  so  much  indebted  for  the  realization 
of  its  own  spiritual  position  and  responsibility.  It  was  he 
who  asserted  in  all  fulness  the  Divine  Mission  and  authority 
of  the  Church;  the  succession  of  the  Bishops  to  the  order,  as 
well  as  to  the  faith  of  the  Apostles ;  and  the  efficacy  of  the 
Sacraments  in  the  conveyance  of  the  Divine  Grace:  thus  sow- 
ing in  the  Church  in  New  York,  years  before  it  was  scattered 
from  Oxford,  the  seed  which  within  the  latter  half  of  this 
century  has  borne  such  wondrous  fruit  of  devotion  to  the 
love  of  Christ,  and  to  the  love  of  man  for  Christ's  sake. 
Not  that  it  can  be  said  that  these  truths  had  been  un- 
known here,  more  than  they  were  in  England,  before  his 
time ;  but  that  he  brought  these  truths  home  to  the  con- 
sciousness of  his  Diocese.  So  that  when,  afterward,  the  great 
wave  of  reaction  to  the  true  and  primitive  principles  of  the 
Reformation  which  had  been  started  in  England  began  to  be 
felt  here,  it  came  as  an  impetus  to  a  movement  already  in 
operation,  rather  than  as  a  new  power. 

And  what  Bishop  Hobart  had  gained  in  the  establishment 
of  right  principles  in  regard  to  the  Church  and  Ministry  and 
Sacraments,  was  faithfully  preserved  by  Bishop  Onderdonk, 
who  with  wise  care  and  unwearied  diligence  applied  the  same 
teaching  to  the  succeeding  generation.  Particularly,  too, 
was  the  attention  of  his  Diocese  directed  by  Bishop  Onder- 
donk to  the  right  principles  of  Liturgical  Worship,  and  to  the 
proper  arrangement  of  Churches,  in  order  that  they  might  be 
better  fitted  for  the  sacred  purposes  for  which  they  were 
designed;  so  that  from  his  Episcopate  may  be  fairly  dated, 
if  not  the  beginning,  at  least  the  first  general  practice  of  those 
orderly  and  reverent  habits  of  conducting  the  services  of  the 
Sanctuary  in  accordance  with  the  principles  and  authority  of 
the  Rubrics,  which  have  made  the  traditions  of  the  Diocese 
of  New  York  in  that  behalf  the  example  of  the  whole  Church. 
Upon  him  devolved  not  only  the  inherited  unpopularity  of 
Bishop  Hobart's  principles  but  also  that  special  odium  which 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   TRINITY   CHURCH.  3 1 

these  principles  acquired  from  their  association  in  the  public 
mind  with  the  Oxford  movement.  By  him,  too,  was  dis- 
creetly discharged  the  duty  of  discriminating  between  these 
principles  which  came  from  abroad,  and  of  recognizing  the 
Catholic  character  of  some,  and  the  dangerous  tendency  of 
others.  By  him  also  was  settled,  in  the  case  of  Arthur 
Carey,  that  principle  of  the  liberty  of  belief  and  teaching 
within  the  limits  of  the  law  of  the  Church,  rather  than  of 
either  Episcopal  or  popular  opinion,  which  indeed  is  capable 
of  abuse,  which  perhaps  has  been  abused,  but  which  never- 
theless must  be  forever  dear  to  every  Christian  who  feels 
himself  to  be  a  man  and  not  a  machine. 

Certainly  under  the  Episcopate  of  these  two  men  the 
Church  in  New  York  learned  something  of  its  true  position 
in  respect  to  spiritual  privilege  and  duty ;  and  as  certainly 
the  impress  of  their  influence  has  been  perpetuated  in  every 
Diocese  in  the  State. 

How  tenderly  and  judiciously  cherished  these  traditions 
have  been  in  our  own  particular  Diocese,  by  the  venerable 
father,  whose  absence  from  our  councils  it  is  our  sad  lot  to 
deplore,  but  whose  prayerful  and  loving  solicitude  for  his 
spiritual  children  we  are  sure  remains  still  unabated,  we  well 
know.  Always  unequivocal  in  his  attachment  to  those  prin- 
ciples of  Evangelic  faith  and  Apostolic  order,  and  of  reverent 
and  churchly  worship,  which  his  predecessors  had  inculcated  ; 
always  firm  and  strong  in  his  maintenance  of  them  when 
occasion  required  ;  yet  always  mindful  of  the  help  and  confi- 
dence due  to  those  who  could  not  feel  their  force  as  he  felt 
it,  and  who  either  failed  to  rise  to  them,  or  were  fain  to  soar 
somewhat  beyond  them  ;  how  tenderly  and  judiciously,  I 
say  again,  has  he  cherished  those  traditions,  neither  loosely 
holding,  nor  yet  harshly  imposing  them.  I  presume  not  to 
seek  for  words  for  all  that  is  in  my  heart,  and  I  know  also  in 
yours,  when  I  refer  to  the  rich  gift  of  this  precious  example 
of  wisdom  and  gentleness.  But,  speaking  of  the  Diocese,  it 
must  be  said  that  it  has  gained  from  this  Episcopate  an  addi- 
tion to  the  traditions  of  the  past  which  was  a  fitting  sequel 
to  them,  in  the  direction  of  its  energies  away  from  contro- 


32  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

versy,  and  away  from  mere  rectitude  of  principle,  to  the 
fulfillment  of  every  good  work  of  Christain  love.  The  con- 
straint of  the  love  of  Christ  in  the  life  of  mercy  and  charity, 
the  duty  of  teaching  by  example  rather  than  by  precept,  and 
of  bringing  men  to  the  faith,  and  love,  and  worship  of  Christ 
by  the  sincerity  and  steadfastness  of  our  own  devotion  to  them 
— these  are  lessons  for  which  I  think  no  feelings  of  delicacy 
need  preclude  the  expression  of  our  gratitude  to  that  vener- 
able man,  whom,  in  spite  of  our  separation  from  him,  and  not 
inconsistently  with  our  loving  allegiance  to  one,  who,  while 
he  takes  his  place  in  the  Church,  stands  side  by  side  with  him 
in  our  hearts,  we  still  revere  as  our  Bishop.  The  God  most 
merciful,  whose  benediction  he  was  wont  to  invoke  on  us, 
be  merciful  to  him!  "Blessed  be  the  man  that  provideth 
for  the  sick  and  needy,  the  Lord  shall  deliver  him  in  the  time 
of  trouble."  The  Lord  comfort  him  when  he  lieth  sick  upon 
his  bed.     Make  Thou  all  his  bed  in  his  sickness. 

These  three  Episcopates  are  so  representative  of  distinct 
stages  in  the  development  of  our  corporate  life  as  to  excuse 
this  particular  reference  to  them.  I  would  not  be  thought 
unmindful  of  the  honor  due  to  Provoost,  to  Moore,  or  to 
Wainwright,  or,  indeed,  to  De  Lancey,  if  our  measure  might 
reach  even  so  far  as  to  him  also,  who  began  the  work  in  West- 
ern New  York,  which  has  been  faithfully  continued  by  his 
brilliant  and  beloved  successor.  How  many  honored  and 
honorable  names  does  that  New  York  name  suggest  to  us, 
as  those  of  Duane,  Jay,  King,  De  Peyster,  Duer,  Bleecker, 
Jones,  Spencer,  Harison,  Ogden,  Moore,  Hoffman,  and  Betts  ; 
of  Floyd  Smith,  M'Donald,  Bell,  and  Rowland;  of  Bradish, 
Ruggles,  Dix,  Minturn,  Norrie,  Tracy,  Curtiss,  Emott, 
Meads,  and  Winston,  and  many  others  eminent  among  our 
Laity.  What  loving  and  edifying  memories  could  I  revive 
(many  of  them  from  my  own  recollection)  of  venerable  clergy 
who  have  led  the  way  into  the  rest  that  remaineth  for  the 
people  of  God — of  Milner,  Duffie,  Lyell  and  Feltus  ;  of  Sher- 
wood and  Creighton  ;  of  Berrian  and  McVickar ;  of  Hawks, 
Higbee,  Haight,and  Walton;  of  Bayard,  Schroeder,  and  Mead; 
of  Anthon  and  Tyng  ;  of  the  brothers  Ogilby,  Johnson,  and 


PROCEEDINGS  AT  TRINITY    CHURCH.  33 

Vinton;  of  the  Sheltons  ;  of  Geer,  Twing,  Montgomery,  and 
Muhlenberg  ;  and,  if  filial  piety  may  overbear  modesty,  of 
Samuel  Seabury.*  What  could  not  be  said  of  those  who 
have  gone  out  from  us,  not  because  they  were  not  of  us,  but 
because  the  Bishoprics  of  other  churches  needed  them — as 
Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Connecticut,  Ohio,  Western  New 
York,  Maine,  Long  Island,  Iowa,  and  Springfield ;  f  not  to 
speak  of  the  good  gifts  bestowed  upon  us  by  others  in  Al- 
bany and  Central  New  York?  £  How  much  ought  to  be  said 
of  the  influence  of  the  Church  in  New  York  upon  the  whole 
field  of  Missions,  and  in  the  department  of  Christian  and 
Theological  Education,  and  particularly  of  its  devotion  to  the 
welfare  of  the  General  Theological  Seminary,  and  of  the  char- 
acter which,  notably  under  the  three  Episcopates  to  which  I 
have  referred,  it  has  impressed  upon  that  institution.  These 
are  thoughts  which  would  lead  me  far  beyond  the  limits  of 
your  patience,  already  too  largely  taxed. 

But  I  should  be  wholly  wanting  in  the  sense  of  what  is 
due  to  this  occasion,  if  I  should  fail  to  refer,  at  least  in  few 
words,  to  one  influence  which  has  had  its  centre  in  the  me- 
tropolis, but  which  from  thence  has  radiated,  not  alone 
through  the  Church  in  this  State,  but  more  or  less  directly 
throughout  the  Union. 

How  beautiful  is  the  spectacle  of  a  gentle,  wise,  and  faith- 

*These  names,  both  of  Clergy  and  Laity,  are  cited  merely  as  instances,  and  their 
number,  of  course,  might  be  greatly  increased.  I  have  given  them,  with  two  or 
three  exceptions  afterward  suggested  to  me,  only  from  memory,  as  they  occurred 
to  me  while  writing ;  and  I  trust  it  is  not  necessary  to  say  that  the  omission  of 
many  others  which  will,  no  doubt,  occur  to  the  reader,  does  not  indicate  that 
they  were  regarded  as  less  worthy  of  respectful  remembrance.  In  Appendix  A 
is  to  be  found  a  somewhat  more  precise  designation  of  the  persons  referred  to  in 
the  order  observed  in  the  text. 

f  A  list  of  New  York  Clergy  consecrated  for  other  Dioceses  than  the  Diocese 
of  New  York,  taken  from  the  Letters  of  Consecration  printed  in  the  Journals 
of  General  Convention,  may  be  found  in  Appendix  B. 

\  This  reference  was  made  under  the  impression  that  the  Bishop  of  Albany, 
at  the  time  of  his  election,  was  a  Presbyter  of  Connecticut.  The  error  is  corrected 
in  the  list  contained  in  Appendix  B. 

The  Rev.  Frederic  Dan   Huntington,  D.D.,  was,  at  the  time  of  his  election 
to  Central  New  York,  Rector  of  Emmanuel  Church,  Boston. 
3 


34  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

ful  motherhood  !  How  lovely,  I  say,  is  the  vision  of  the 
Christian  Mother,  who,  like  the  Good  Shepherd,  gathers  the 
lambs  of  the  flock  into  her  arms  and  carries  them  in  her  bosom  ; 
who  guides  the  feeble  steps  of  childhood  and  shares  the  la- 
bors and  the  troubles  of  maturer  years,  and  who,  in  the  over- 
flowing of  her  love,  will  extend  her  care  even  to  those  whom 
she  herself  brought  not  forth,  but  in  whom  need  and  desert 
supply  the  place  of  a  closer  relation. 

And  have  we  not  a  right  to  view  in  this  aspect,  in  its  re- 
lation to  the  Diocese,  the  Church  at  whose  Chief  Altar  we 
present  to-day  our  thankful  sacrifice?  Apart  from  mere  pri- 
ority in  time,  what  better  claim  could  there  be  to  the  title  of 
Mother  Church  than  that  which  grows  out  of  the  nursing  care 
which  has  been  shown  by  Trinity  for  the  members  of  the  same 
household  of  faith,  and  that  by  no  means  only  in  the  Dio- 
cese ?  From  her  has  come  the  gift  of  Bishops,  and  of  means 
to  sustain  them;  from  her,  judicious  and  munificent  provision 
for  the  promotion  of  sound  learning;  from  her,  the  birth  and 
enrichment  of  daughter  Churches,  most  rich  in  good  works — 
Grace,  St.  Mark's,  and  St.  George's;  from  her,  the  helpful  co- 
operation by  which  others  were  enabled  to  prevail  in  the 
doubtful  battle  for  life ;  from  her,  the  timely  encouragement 
of  every  good  work.  Few  of  us  there  are,  I  fancy,  who  have 
not,  directly  or  indirectly,  in  our  education,  in  our  ministry, 
in  our  parochial  life,  in  our  charitable  and  mission  work,  aye, 
and  in  our  hunger  and  thirst  after  some  strong  meat  in  the  way 
of  positive  teaching,  and  some  pureness  and  sweetness  in  the 
streams  of  soul-refreshing  worship,  experienced  the  benefit  of 
the  life  and  work  of  Trinity  Church.  Do  these  words  need 
confirmation  ?  The  lives  of  the  first  five  of  our  seven  Bishops  ; 
the  journals  of  our  Convention  ;  the  records  of  our  parishes; 
the  history  of  Columbia  College,  of  Trinity  School,  of  Hobart 
College,  of  the  Society  for  Promoting  Religion  and  Learning, 
on  which  fell  the  mantle  of  the  venerable  society  of  colonial 
memory,  as  well  as  our  own  experience,  attest  them.  And  so 
does  that  Divine  Service  which  from  within  these  walls  con- 
tinually shows  forth  the  beauty  of  holiness,  and  bears  us  in 
spirit  to  one  of  those  grand  old  Churches,  Cathedrals  which  are, 


PROCEEDINGS  AT   TRINITY   CHURCH.  35 

in  the  words  of  Hooker,  "  as  glasses  wherein  the  face  and  very- 
countenance  of  Apostolical  antiquity  remaineth  even  as  yet  to 
be  seen,  notwithstanding  the  alterations  which  tract  of  time 
and  the  course  of  this  world  hath  brought." 

The  Cathedral  of  the  Diocese  of  New  York,  although  long 
since  projected,  is  yet  to  come.  It  is  the  special  trust  and 
work,  I  venture  to  believe,  of  that  Episcopate  upon  which  we 
have  entered,  almost  together  with  the  entrance  on  our  second 
century.  God  set  up  that  House  within  our  Holy  City  for  a 
special  memorial  of  both !  Quickly  may  it  come,  and  forever 
last  !  But  never  may  it  obscure  the  memory  of  that  Church, 
which,  without  either  the  name  or  the  honor,  has  done  the 
work  and  supplied  the  example  of  a  Cathedral  to  the  century 
past ! 

Very  solemn,  my  brethren,  amidst  all  our  thankfulness, 
are  the  feelings  which  vibrate  within  us  as  the  passing  bell 
tolls  the  departure  of  another  period  of  time  into  the  meas- 
ureless expanse  of  eternity.  We  recall  the  plans  and  the  la- 
bors, the  joys  and  the  sorrows,  the  triumphs  and  tribulations 
of  the  generations  past.  We  stand,  as  it  were,  among  them 
that  have  passed  out  from  that  part  of  the  Holy  City  which  is 
visible,  and  have  entered  within  the  secret  chambers,  which 
are  hidden  places  indeed  to  us,#but  which  for  them  open  out 
towards  the  light  eternal  which  proceeds  from  that  heavenly 
place  to  which  the  uprising  towers  of  our  Holy  City  point  us. 
They  tell  us  what  they  have  wrought  for  our  sakes,  and  how 
they  rejoice  in  what  they  were  able  to  do  for  those  abodes 
wherein  we  have  now  succeeded  them.  They  remind  us  that 
this  Holy  City  is  the  porch  and  outer  entrance  to  the  still 
more  glorious  Capital,  into  which  they  pray  that  we  with 
them  may  enter  when  time  shall  be  fulfilled,  and  the  purpose 
of  the  earthly  tabernacle  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  shall  have 
been  accomplished.  They  bid  us  rejoice  in  the  comfort  and 
protection  which,  in  the  grace  and  mercy  of  God,  that  Holy 
City  is  able  to  afford  us  in  our  earthly  warfare.  They  charge 
us  so  to  build,  as  those  who  know  that  the  Holy  City  must  be 
fashioned  more  and  more  unto  the  likeness  of  that  to  which  it 
leads;  and  so  to  war,  as  those  who  know  that  upon  them  de- 


36  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

pends  the  preservation  of  that  stronghold  for  the  shelter  of 
them  that  come  after.  And  as  we  heed  and  follow  them  that 
have  borne  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day,  let  us  so  cherish 
the  works  that  they  have  left  behind  for  our  help  and  strength, 
that  we  may  hand  them  down  for  the  blessing  of  those  to 
whom  we,  in  our  turn,  must  soon  give  place. 

In  grateful  remembrance  of  the  past,  in  hopeful  anticipa- 
tion of  the  future,  in  sole  dependence  upon  Him  by  whose 
sacred  name  and  presence  the  Holy  City  is  consecrated,  let 
us  walk  about  Sion,  and  go  round  about  her,  and  tell  the  tow- 
ers thereof.  "  Mark  well  her  bulwarks,  set  up  her  houses,  that 
ye  may  tell  them  that  come  after.  For  this  God  is  our  God 
for  ever  and  ever.     He  shall  be  our  guide  unto  death." 


PROCEEDINGS  AT   TRINITY   CHURCH.  37 


APPENDIX  A. 

Hon.  James  Duane ;  Hon.  John  Jay,  Peter  Augustus  Jay, 
Esq.,  Hon.  William  Jay;  Hon.  Rufus  King,  Hon.  John  A. 
King,  Charles  King,  L.L.D. ;  Hon.  David  S.  Jones,  brother 
of  Chancellor  Jones  above  mentioned,  and,  of  another  family, 
Edward  R.  Jones,  Esq. ;  James  F.  and  Frederic  de  Peyster, 
Esqs. ;  Hon.  John  Duer ;  Anthony  J.  Bleecker,  Esq.;  Hon. 
John  C.  Spencer;  William  H.  Harison,  Esq.;  Hon.  David 
B.  Ogden ;  Nathaniel  Moore,  LL.D.,  Clement  C.  Moore, 
LL.D.,  William  Moore,  Esq.  ;  Hon.  Ogden  Hoffman  and 
Samuel  Verplanck  Hoffman,  Esq.,  kinsmen  of  Judge  Hoff- 
man before  mentioned ;  William  Betts,  L.L.D. ;  Floyd 
Smith,  Esq.  ;  Pierre  E.  F.  M'Donald  and  Anthony  Bleecker 
M'Donald,  Esqs.;  Hon.  William  H.  Bell;  Charles  Nova 
Scotia  Rowland,  Esq. ;  Hon.  Luther  Bradish  ;  Hon.  Samuel  B. 
Ruggles  ;  Hon.  John  A.  Dix ;  Robert  B.  Minturn,  Esq. ;  Adam 
Norrie,  Esq.;  Charles  Tracy,  Esq.;  Cyrus  Curtiss,  Esq.;  Hon. 
James  Emott ;  Orlando  H.  Meads,  Esq.;  Frederick  T.  Win- 
ston, Esq. 

The  Rev.  James  Milnor,  D.D.,  Rector  of  St.  George's,  N. 
Y. ;  Rev.  Cornelius  R.  Duffie,  Rector  of  St.  Thomas'  Church, 
N.  Y. ;  Rev.  Thomas  Lyell,  D.D.,  Rector  Christ  Church,  N.Y. ; 
Rev.  Henry  J.  Feltus,  D.  D. ,  Rector  St.  Stephen's,  N.  Y. ;  Rev. 
Reuben  Sherwood,  D.D.,  Rector  St.  James',  Hyde  Park,  and 
(less  generally  known,  but  with  whom  the  writer  has  a  special 
association  as  having  been  baptized  by  him  in  St.  John's 
Church,  Cold  Spring  Harbor,  Long  Island)  the  Rev.  Isaac 
Sherwood,  Missionary;  Rev.  William  Creighton,  D.D.,  some- 
time Rector  of  St.  Mark's,  N.  Y.,  and  the  first  Provisional 
Bishop  Elect  of  New  York  ;  Rev.  William  Berrian,  D.D.,  Rec- 
tor of  Trinity,  N.Y.;  Rev.  John  McVickar,  D.D.,  Prof,  of  Moral 
Philosophy  in  Columbia  College;  Rev. Francis  Lister  Hawks, 
D.D.,  sometime  Rector  of  St.  Thomas'  and  Calvary,  N.  Y.; 
Historiographer,    etc.  —  the   Chrysostom    of    the    American 


38  CENTENNIAL  CHURCH   HISTORY. 

Church  ;  Rev.  Edward  Y.  Higbee,  D.D.,  and  Rev.  Benjamin 
I.  Haight,  D.D.,  Assistant  Ministers  of  Trinity,  N.  Y. ;  Rev. 
William  Walton,  D.D.,  Clement  C.  Moore  Prof,  of  Hebrew 
in  the  General  Theological  Seminary;  Rev.  Lewis  P.  Bayard, 
D.D.,  Rector  St.  Clement's,  N.  Y. ;  Rev.  John  F.  Schroeder, 
D.D.,  sometime  Assistant  Minister  in  Trinity,  N.  Y.;  Rev.  E. 
N.  Mead,  D.D.,  sometime  Rector  St.  Clement's,  N.  Y. ;  Rev. 
Henry  Anthon,  D.D.,  Rector  St.  Mark's,  N.  Y.  ;  Rev. 
Stephen  H.  Tyng,  D.D.,  Rector  St.  George's,  N.  Y. ;  Rev. 
John  D.  Ogilby,  D.D.,  St.  Mark's  in  the  Bowery,  Prof,  of 
Eccl.  Hist,  in  the  General  Theological  Seminary,  and  Rev. 
Frederick  Ogilby,  D.D.,  Assistant  Minister  Trinity,  N.  Y.  ; 
Rev.  William  L.  Johnson,  D.D.,  Rector  Grace  Church,  Ja- 
maica, L.  I.,  and  Rev.  Samuel  Roosevelt  Johnson,  D.D.,  Prof. 
Systematic  Divinity,  General  Theological  Seminary;  Rev. 
Alex.  H.  Vinton,  D.D.,  sometime  Rector  St.  Mark's,  N.  Y., 
and  Rev.  Francis  Vinton,  D.D.,  Assistant  Minister  Trinity, 
N.  Y.,  and  Charles  and  Elizabeth  Ludlow  Prof.  Eccl.  Polity 
and  Law  in  General  Theo.  Seminary;  Rev.  William  Shelton, 
D.D.,  Rector  St.  Paul's,  Buffalo,  and  Rev.  Frederick  A.  Shel- 
ton, LL.D.  Rev.  George  Jarvis  Geer,  D.D.,  Rector  St.  Tim- 
othy's, N.  Y.,  Rev.  A.  T.  Twing,  D.D.,  Secretary  Domestic 
Missions  ;  Rev.  Henry  E.  Montgomery,  D.D.,  Rector  of  the 
Church  of  the  Incarnation,  N.  Y.;  Rev.  Wm.  A.  Muhlenberg, 
D.D.,  founder  of  the  Flushing  Institute,  St.  Paul's  College, 
Church  of  the  Holy  Communion,  N.  Y.,  St.  Luke's  Hospital 
and  St.  Johnland ;  and  Rev.  Samuel  Seabury,  D.D.,  asso- 
ciated with  him  in  the  educational  works  just  mentioned, 
Rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Annunciation,  N.  Y.,  Prof.  Bib- 
lical Learning  Gen.  Theological  Seminary,  and  Editor  of  The 
Churchman  from  1833  to  1849. 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   TRINITY   CHURCH.  39 


APPENDIX  B. 

Rev.  Samuel  Seabury,  D.D.,  Oxon,  Rector  of  St.  Peter's 
Church,  Westchester,  N.  Y.,  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  Rev- 
olutionary War  (and,  during  the  war,  Chaplain  of  the 
King's  American  Regiment  in  the  city  of  New  York) — for 
Connecticut. 

Rev.  Richard  Channing  Moore,  D.D.,  Rector  of  St. 
Stephen's  Church,  N.  Y. — for  Virginia.  * 

Rev.  Henry  Ustick  Onderdonk,  D.D.,  Rector  of  St.  Ann's 
Church,  Brooklyn,  L.  I. — for  Pennsylvania. 

Rev.  Levi  Silliman  Ives,  D.D.,  Rector  of  St.  Luke's 
Church,  N.  Y.— for  North  Carolina. 

Rev.  Chas.  Pettit  Mcllvaine,  D.D.,  Rector  of  St.  Ann's 
Church,  Brooklyn  L.  I. — for  Ohio. 

Rev.  Thomas  Church  Brownell,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Assistant 
Minister  Trinity  Church,  N.  Y. — for  Connecticut. 

Rev.  Wm.  R.  Whittingham,  D.D.,  St.  Mark's  in  the 
Bowery,  Prof.  Eccl.  Hist.  Gen.  Theological  Seminary,  N.  Y. — 
for  Maryland. 

Rev.  Manton  Eastburn,  D.D.,  Rector  of  the  Church  of  the 
Ascension,  N.  Y. — for  Massachusetts. 

Rev.  Horatio  Southgate,  D.D.,  Presbyter  Diocese  of  New 
York — Missionary  Bishop  for  Turkey. 

Rev.  Alonzo  Potter,  D.D.,  L.L.D.,  Prof.  Moral  Philoso- 
phy and  Belles-Lettres  in  Union  College,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.— 
for  Pennsylvania. 

Rev.  Henry  John  Whitehouse,  D.D.,  Rector  St.  Thomas' 
Church,  N.  Y. — for  Illinois. 

Rev.  Wm.  Ingraham  Kip,  D.D.,  Rector  St.  Paul's  Church, 
Albany,  N.  Y. — for  California. 

*  The  Rev.  Nathaniel  Bowen,  D.D.,  consecrated  for  South  Carolina,  Octo- 
ber 8,  1818,  is  described  in  his  letter  of  consecration  {Journal  Gen.  Conv.,  1853, 
p.  383)  as  Rector  of  St.  Michael's,  Charleston.  He  appears  however  to  have 
been  at  the  time  of  his  election  Rector  of  Grace  Church,  N.  Y.  See  Berriaris 
Hist.  Trinity  Church,  pp.  225,  226. 


40  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

Rev.  Henry  Washington  Lee,  D.D.,  Rector  St.  Luke's 
Church,  Rochester,  N.  Y. — for  Iowa. 

Rev.  Gregory  Thurston  Bedell,  D.D.,  Rector  Church  of 
the  Ascension,  N.  Y.— for  Ohio. 

Rev.  Arthur  Cleveland  Coxe,  D.D.  (sometime  Rector 
Calvary  Church,  N.  Y.),  Presbyter  Diocese  of  New  York— 
for  Western  New  York. 

Rev.  Henry  Adams  Neely,  D.D.,  Assistant  Minister  of 
Trinity  Church,  N.  Y.— for  Maine. 

Rev.  John  Freeman  Young,  D.D.,  Assistant  Minister  of 
Trinity  Church,  N.  Y.— for  Florida. 

Rev.  Wm.  Henry  Augustus  Bissell,  D.D.,  Rector  Trinity 
Church,  Geneva,  N.  Y.— for  Vermont. 

Rev.  Charles  Franklin  Robertson,  D.D.,  Rector  St.  James' 
Church,  Batavia,  N.  Y. — for  Missouri. 

Rev.  Daniel  Sylvester  Tuttle,  D.D.,  Rector  Zion  Church, 
N.  Y.— Missionary  Bishop  for  Montana  Territory,  etc. 

Rev.  Abram  Newkirk  Littlejohn,  D.D.,  Rector  of  Holy 
Trinity  Church,  Brooklyn,  L.  I.  (Presbyter  of  the  Diocese 
of  New  York  when  the  Diocese  of  Long  Island  was  estab- 
lished)— for  Long  Island. 

Rev.  Wm.  Croswell  Doane,  D.D.,  Rector  of  St.  Peter's 
Church,  Albany  (Presbyter  of  New  York  when  Albany  be- 
came a  distinct  Diocese) — for  Albany. 

Rev.  Benjamin  Henry  Paddock,  D.D.,  Rector  Grace 
Church,  Brooklyn,  L.  I. — for  Massachusetts. 

Rev.  John  Henry  Hobart  Brown,  D.D.,  Rector  St.  John's 
Church,  Cohoes,  N.  Y. — for  Fond  du  Lac. 

Rev.  Wm.  Stevens  Perry,  D.D.,  President  Hobart  College 
and  Rector  Trinity  Church,  Geneva,  N.  Y. — for  Iowa. 

Rev.  George  Franklin  Seymour,  D.D.,  Dean  Gen.  Theo. 
Seminary,  and  St.  Mark's  in  the  Bowery  Prof,  of  Eccl.  Hist. 
— for  Springfield. 

Rev.  John  Nicholas  Galleher,  D.D.  (sometime  Rector 
Zion  Church,  N.  Y.),  Presbyter  Diocese  of  New  York — for 
Louisiana. 

Rev.  Leigh  Richmond  Brewer,  Rector  of  Trinity  Church, 
Watertown,  N.  Y. — Missionary  Bishop  for  Montana. 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   TRINITY   CHURCH.  41 

Rev.  John  Adams  Paddock,  D.D.,  Rector  St.  Peter's 
Church,  Brooklyn,  L.  I. — Missionary  Bishop  of  Washington 
Territory. 

Rev.  William  David  Walker,  in  charge  of  Calvary  Chapel, 
N.  Y. — Missionary  Bishop  for  North  Dakota. 

The  Bishops  of  the  Diocese  of  New  York  have  been 
chosen  from  that  Diocese. 

Rev.  Samuel  Provoost,  D.D.,  Rector   of  Trinity  Church, 
N.  Y. 

Rev.  Benjamin  Moore,  D.D.,  Rector  of  Trinity  Church, 
N.  Y. 

Rev.  John  Henry  Hobart,  D.D.,  Assistant  Minister  Trin- 
ity Church,  N.  Y. 

Rev.  Benjamin  Tredwell  Onderdonk,  D.D.,  Assistant  Min- 
ister Trinity  Church,  N.  Y. 

Rev.  Jonathan  Mayhew  Wainwright,  D.D.,  D.C.L.  (Oxon), 
Assistant  Minister  Trinity  Church,  N.  Y. 

Rev.  Horatio  Potter,  D.D.,  Rector  St.  Peter's  Church, 
Albany  (prior  to  the  setting  off  of  Albany  as  a  Diocese). 

Rev.  Henry  Codman  Potter,  D.D.,  Rector  Grace  Church, 
N.  Y. 


At  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  bishops,  clergy,  and 
lay  delegates,  to  the  number  of  several  hundred,  were  enter- 
tained at  luncheon  at  the  Assembly  Rooms  on  Broadway  and 
Thirty-ninth  Street,  by  the  Assistant  Bishop,  who  was  aided  in 
receiving  his  numerous  guests  by  Generals  Webb  and  Wilson, 
and  by  Messrs.  Vanderbilt,  Morgan,  Gibbs,  Camp,  and  Whit- 
taker,  who  acted  as  stewards.  Two  hours  were  agreeably 
spent  at  the  tables  in  the  spacious  hall,  and  in  listening  to  a 
number  of  delightful  after-dinner  speeches  from  the  host, 
from  Bishops  Coxe  and  Doane,  and  from  several  prominent 
clergymen  and  laymen. 


PROCEEDINGS  AT   ST.  THOMAS'   CHURCH. 


PROCEEDINGS  AT  ST.  THOMAS'  CHURCH. 


At  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  Divine 
Service  was  held  in  St.  Thomas'  Church,  when  a  very  large 
congregation  was  present.  The  order  of  service  was  as  fol- 
lows : 

1.  Hymn  4.      "  Hosanna  to  the  living  Lord." 

2.  Lord's  Prayer  and  Versicles. 

3.  Psalm  cxxxii.     "  Memento  Do/nine." 

4.  Lesson,  Isaiah,  xii. 

5.  Dens  Misereatur. 

6.  Apostles'  Creed. 

7.  Collects  for  the  Day,  for  Peace,  and  for  aid  against  perils.  "The 
Grace,"  etc. 

8.  Hymn  igo.      "  Glorious  things  of  Thee  are  spoken." 
g.   Historical  Sketch,  by  Dr.  DeCosta. 

10.  Anthem.      "  Hotv  beautiful  upon  the  Mountains." 

11.  Address  by  the  Bishop  of  Western  New  York. 

12.  Hymn  No.  176.      "  The  Son  of  God  goes  forth  to  war." 

13.  Addresses  by  the  Bishops  of  Albany  and  Long  Island. 

14.  Hymn  202.     "  The  Church's  one  foundation." 

15.  Benediction. 

16.  Hymn  430.      "Alleluia  !  Song  of  Sweetness." 

We  are  here  this  evening,  dear  brethren,  said  the  Rt. 
Rev.  Henry  C.  Potter,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  in  accordance  with 
the  order  taken  by  the  Convention  of  the  Diocese  of  New 
York  at  its  session  in  the  year  1883,  by  which  action  it  was 
provided  that  the  centennial  anniversary  of  the  Diocese  of 
New  York  should  be  commemorated  on  this,  the  first  day  of 
the  Convention  of  this  year,  by  Divine  Service  and  a  sermon 
in  Trinity  Church  in  the  morning,  and  by  an  assemblage  in 
the  evening  with  addresses  appropriate  to  the  occasion,  and 
with  the  reading  also  of  an  historical  essay.  In  accordance 
with  this  order,  the  historical  essay  will  now  be  read  by  the 
Rev.  B.  F.  DeCosta,  D.D.,  the  Rector  of  the  Church  of  St. 
John  the  Evangelist  in  this  city. 


46  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

THE   CENTENNIAL   OF   THE   DIOCESE  OF  NEW   YORK. 


One  hundred  years  have  passed  away  since  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Diocese  of  New  York,  and  now,  standing  upon  the 
threshold  of  a  second  century,  we  pause  to  glance  at  the  suc- 
cession of  memorable  events  forming  the  body  of  our  eccle- 
siastical history. 

To  understand  the  real  character  of  an  ecclesiastical  or- 
ganization, it  is  needful  to  know  something  of  the  religious 
condition  of  society  during  the  period  out  of  which  it  grew  ; 
since  a  Church,  like  a  plant,  is  governed  in  its  special  develop- 
ment by  the  soil  and  atmosphere.  At  the  outset,  therefore, 
attention  must  be  directed  to  the  Colonial  period. 

The  Church  in  New  York  was  founded  during  a  period 
that  has  received  very  inadequate  treatment.  Valuable 
studies  have  been  made,  but  the  Colonial  period  still  awaits 
its  historian,  and  we  must  content  ourselves  for  the  present 
with  such  approaches  to  the  subject  as  the  specialist  may  from 
time  to  time  offer. 

The  circumstances  that  attended  the  founding  of  the 
Church  in  New  York  are  not  thoroughly  well  known. 
The  origin  of  this  Diocese  bears  little  resemblance  to  that  of 
any  other.  Indeed,  we  should  hardly  expect  to  find  the 
beginnings  of  any  two  dioceses  alike.  The  old  Eastern  Dio- 
ceses, like  those  of  the  Middle  and  Southern  States,  each  had 
a  peculiar  origin.  In  New  England  the  Church  grew  up 
amidst  persecution,  while  in  Virginia,  for  instance,  the  weight 
of  the  government  was  on  her  side.  In  Pennsylvania, 
under  the  Charter,  the  Church  was  barely  tolerated.  In  New 
York,  however,  while  religious  liberty  was  enjoyed  after  the 
Dutch  submission,  the  progress  of  the  Church  was  obstructed. 
The  issue,  at  the  outset,  was  with  a  somewhat  moderate 
Reformed  religion,  more  or  less  friendly.  It  was  with  a  later 
and  openly  hostile  political  ecclesiasticism  that  Churchmen 
were  called  to  strive. 

Coming  to  the  Colonial  period  we  find  to  our  deep  regret 
that  many  valuable   manuscript  records  have  passed  out  of 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   ST.    THOMAS     CHURCH.  47 

sight.  Besides,  many  important  publications  of  that  period 
were  of  a  fugitive  character,  and  are  difficult  to  collect.  Still, 
notwithstanding  the  loss  of  much  material,  some  points  are 
clearer  than  is  often  supposed. 

Prior  to  the  English  occupation  of  New  York,  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer  was  probably  used  in  English  families,  but 
the  Church  Services  first  appear  in  1663. 

The  first  English  Governor  was  Colonel  Nicolls,  one  of 
the  Commissioners  sent  over  to  take  possession  of  New  Neth- 
erlands. King  Charles  had  given  the  Commissioners  special 
Instructions  with  respect  to  Massachusetts,  granting  liberty 
to  all,  whatever  religion  they  might  profess,*  and  those  for 
Connecticut  took  a  similar  ground.  These  applied  equally 
to  New  York.  But  in  some  "  Private  Instructions,"  which 
made  it  optional  with  the  Commissioners  to  go  to  New 
York  and  deal  with  the  people  there  first,  the  King  enters 
quite  fully  into  the  subject  of  toleration,  warning  them  against 
using  any  oppression  in  seeking  to  advance  the  Church,  cau- 
tioning them  with  respect  to  those  who  might  have  no  more 
than  a  pretended  zeal  for  Common  Prayer  and  the  discipline  of 
the  Church  of  England,  and  advising  them  that  they  might 
dispense  with  "wearing  the  surplesse,"  which  "  may  conven- 
iently be  foreborne  att  this  tyme."f     No  one  can  affirm  that 


*  The  language  was,  "  Such  who  desire  to  use  ye  Book  of  Common  Prayer 
may  be  permitted  soe  to  doe  wthout  incurring  any  penalty,  reproach  or  disad- 
vantage in  his  interest,  it  being  very  scandalous  that  any  man  should  be  debarred 
ye  exercise  of  his  religion,"  etc. — IV.    Y.  Col.  Docs.,  III.,  54. 

fFor  their  guidance  in  New  York,  the  King  says  :  "And  that  you  may  not 
give  any  umbrage  or  jealousy  to  them  in  matters  of  religion,  as  if  you  were  at 
least  Enimyes  to  formes  observed  amongst  them,  you  shall  do  well  to  frequent 
their  Churches  and  be  present  at  their  devotions,  though  wee  doe  suppose  and 
thinke  fitt  that  you  carry  with  you  some  learned  and  discreet  Chaplaine,  orthodox 
in  his  judgment  and  practice,  who  in  your  own  familyes  will  reade  the  Booke  of 
Common  Prayer  and  perform  your  devotion  according  to  ye  forme  established  in 
the  Church  of  England,  excepting  only  in  wearing  the  surplesse  which  having 
never  bin  seen  in  those  countryes  may  conveniently  be  forborne  att  this  tyme, 
when  the  principal  busynesse  is,  by  all  good  expedients,  to  unite  and  reconcile 
persons  of  very  different  judgments  and  practice  in  all  things,  at  least  which  con- 
cern the  peace  and  prosperity  of  those  people,  and  their  joint  submission  and 
obedience  to  us  and  our  government." — N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  III.,  58. 


48  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

the  English  were  not  in  this  respect  considerate  of  the  feel- 
ings of  the  people. 

With  the  English  garrison  came  a  chaplain,  and,  as  the 
few  Churchmen  then  in  the  city  had  no  place  of  worship,  it 
was  arranged  that  after  the  Dutch  had  finished  their  morning 
worship  the  chapel  should  be  used  for  the  services  of  the 
Church.  So  far  as  we  learn  at  present,  these  were  the  first 
public  services  of  the  kind  known  to  have  been  performed  on 
this  island.  The  name  of  the  chaplain  is  not  given.  In  1664 
Nicolls  framed  what  are  known  as  the  Duke's  Laws,  which 
were  approved  by  an  extemporized  convention  of  the  people 
of  Long  Island,  held  at  Hempstead,  there  being  no  Assem- 
bly. New  York  was  held  by  the  Duke  in  feudal  style. 
These  laws  sought  to  provide  for  public  worship,  for  which 
all  inhabitants  were  to  be  taxed,  while  nothing  is  said  about 
Episcopacy  or  Common  Prayer,  the  right  of  non-Episcopal 
ordination  being  recognized. 

Nicolls  continued  Governor  until  1668,  when  he  left  with 
the  good  wishes  of  the  people.  Colonel  Francis  Lovelace  be- 
came his  successor,  by  favor  of  the  King,  winning  the  appoint- 
ment from  the  Duke  of  York.  He  is  described  as  of  a  gen- 
erous, upright  and  noble  mind,  while,  in  his  Proclamation  of 
November  28,  ordering  a  day  of  humiliation  and  prayer,  he 
expressly  condemns  the  prevailing  sins  of  profanity,  impiety 
and  intemperence.  The  King  had  given  the  Duke  of  York 
power  to  make  the  laws,  and  though  Nicolls  accepted  help  in 
forming  a  code,  Lovelace  ruled  without  regard  to  the  people. 
He  expressed  the  Duke's  approval  of  the  Lutherans,  who  sent 
to  Germany  for  a  minister.  Lovelace  carried  out  the  Duke's 
well-known  policy  of  toleration.  He  continued  Governor  until 
the  war  broke  out  between  England  and  Holland. 

In  1673  the  colony  changed  hands,  Colve  gaining  the  au- 
thority ;  but  when  the  war  was  over  the  English  again  took 
possession.  A  new  patent  was  issued  to  the  Duke  of  York, 
July  1,  1674.  Edmund  Andros,  a  stiff  Churchman,  was  com- 
missioned by  the  Duke  as  Governor.  Andros  brought  no 
new  instructions  of  a  radical  character,  being  simply  enjoined 
to   permit   all   persons,    of   whatsoever   religion,    to    live    in 


PROCEEDINGS  AT   ST.   THOMAS'    CHURCH.  49 

peace.*     The  Duke  himself  was  disabled  by  the  Test  Act 
and  was  averse  to  distinctions. 

With  Andros  came  the  Rev.  Charles  Wolley,  fresh  from 
the  University  of  Cambridge,  having  been  appointed  Chap- 
lain to  the  forces  by  the  Duke  of  York.  This  individual 
does  not  appear  to  have  met  with  much  success,  and  the  ex- 
tent of  his  ministrations  is  not  known.  At  London,  in  1701, 
he  published  a  Journal  of  American  experiences.!  In  1702  he 
was  made  a  freeman  of  New  York.  The  Labadist  Brothers, 
who  visited  New  York  in  1679,  heard  him  preach  on  the  Fif- 
teenth Sunday  after  Trinity,  and  described  him  as  a  young 
man  who  read  his  sermon  out  of  a  book,  and  "  who  thought 
he  was  performing  wonders."  J  Governor  Andros,  testified 
that  he  was  "  unblamable  in  his  Life  and  Conversation."  His 
disposition  was  genial  and  he  was  fond  of  society.  It  is  said 
that  he  gave  the  Dutch  valuable  help  in  building  their  new 
church,  in  which  course  he  had  the  encouragement  of  Andros 
himself.  Indeed,  the  English  and  Dutch  lived  on  the  best 
of  terms,  while  Chaplain  Wolley  was  dependent  upon  his 
Dutch  brethren  for  the  accommodation  which  he  enjoyed  for 
his  own  services. 

In  1680  Govenor  Andros  was  called  home,  leaving  Anthony 
Brockhalls  commander-in-chief,  being  followed  eventually  by 
Dongan. 

Prior  to  1683,  there  seems  to  have  been  a  vacancy  of  two 
years  in  the  Chaplaincy,  but  when,  on  August  25,  1683,  Don- 

*  "  You  shall  permit  all  persons  of  what  Religion  soever,  quietly  to  inhabitt 
w^in  ye  precincts  of  yor  Jurisdiccon,  w^out  giveing  ym  any  disturbance  or  disquiet 
whatsoever,  for  or  by  reason  of  their  differing  in  matters  of  Religion  :  Provided 
they  give  noe  disturbance  to  yr  publique  peace,  nor  doe  molest  or  disquiet  others 
in  ye  free  exercise  of  their  religion." — Documents  relating  to  the  Colonial  History 
of  New  York,  Vol.  III.,  p.  218. 

f  A  Two  Years  Journal  in  New  York,  and  parts  of  its  Territories  in 
America.  Reprinted  by  Gowers,  New  York,  i860.  The  Rev.  Nicholaus  Van 
Renselaer,  ordained  deacon  and  priest  by  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  came  over  with 
Andros,  intending  to  serve  the  Dutch  Communion,  which  would  not  receive  him. 
He  was  of  a  bad  character  and  died  soon  after. 

%  See  their  Journal  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  L.  I.  Hist.  Soc.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  148. 
This  volume  also  contains  a  sketch  showing  the  appearance  of  the  chapel  at  that 
time. 

4 


50  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

gan  came  over  as  Governor,  he  brought  out  Dr.  John  Gordon 
to  serve  in  that  office,  and  for  his  own  convenience  he  took 
with  him  an  English  Jesuit  priest  named  Harvey,  the  Gov- 
ernor being  a  Roman  Catholic.  Gordon  does  not  appear  to 
have  served  for  any  considerable  time,  and  was  succeeded  in 
June,  1684,  by  the  Rev.  Josias  Clarke  ;  who,  in  turn,  received 
his  discharge  October,  1686. 

On  coming  to  New  York,  Governor  Dongan  did  not  receive 
any  special  Instructions  concerning  religious  liberty,  those 
given  to  Andros  in  1674  being  sufficient.*  Yet  during  his 
administration,  and  before  the  reception  of  his  second  Instruc- 
tions, the  use  of  Common  Prayer  obtained  in  some  parts  of 
Long  Island  at  least.  In  1685,  the  opposition  became  so 
very  strong  that  Mr.  Eburne  agreed  to  modify  his  course.  At 
a  town  meeting  held  at  Setauket  about  this  time,  the  subject 
was  discussed,  resulting  in  an  agreement,  which  dispensed 
with  the  book,  except  in  certain  cases.  The  feeling  ran  so 
high  that  Mr.  Eburne's  salary  seems  to  have  been  withheld, 
when  he  made  an  appeal  to  the  Governor  f  though  it  does 
not  appear  how  the  case  was  settled.  $ 

In  1686,  the  Duke  of  York  being  in  the  second  year  of  his 
reign  as  James  II.,  sent  out  a  new  and  full  set  of  Instructions, 

*  See  Instructions,  N.   Y.  Col.  Docs.,  III.,  331. 

f  N.  Y.  Doc.  Hist.,  Vol.  III.,  p.  218. 

\  For  his  knowledge  of  this  important  and  interesting  issue,  the  writer  is  in- 
debted to  a  paper  preserved  in  the  records  of  Brookhaven,  which  were  searched 
for  him  by  Mr.  Richard  M.  Bayles,  of  Middle  Island.  The  following  is  a  copy  of 
the  Document : 

"  Mr.  Samuell  Eburne  the  minister  of  this  Toune,  being  at  a  toune  meeting 
held  by  Mr.  Justice  Woodhull  his  Warrant  Elected  by  a  vote  to  be  minister  of 
this  toune  and  Parrish  &  it  being  proposed  unto  him  by  the  Toun  in  Regard 
of  some  tender  consciences  that  he  would  omitt  the  ceremonies  in  the  booke  of 
Common  Prayer  in  the  publick  worshipe,  the  sd  mr.  Samuell  Eburne  hath  pro- 
mised &  by  the  presents  covenant  and  promise  to  and  with  the  Inhabitants  and 
Parrishoners  of  this  Toune,  that  according  to  their  desire  with  regard  of  their  ten- 
der consciences  to  Omitt  and  not  use  the  aforesd  ceremonies  neither  in  his  Publick 
worshipe  or  administracon  of  the  Sacraments  excepting  to  such  persons  as  shall 
desire  the  same.     In  Wittness  whereof  the  sd  Samuell   Eburne  hereunto  set  his 

hand. 

"  Witness  my  hand 

"  Samuell  Eburne,  Minister." 


PROCEEDINGS  AT   ST.   THOMAS'   CHURCH.  5 1 

dated  May  29,  1686,  in  which  Instructions  he  gave  particular 
directions  concerning  ecclesiastical  affairs,  recognizing  the 
Church  as  an  Establishment. 

In  these  Instructions  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in- 
stead of  the  Bishop  of  London,  is  invested  with  the  ecclesi- 
astical jurisdiction,  the  King  having  had  a  misunderstanding 
with  the  latter.  Sanscroft  himself  was  displaced,  and  the 
supervision  was  then  exercised  by  the  Bishops  of  Durham, 
Rochester  and  Peterborough,  until  it  returned  to  the  See  of 
London. 

Speaking  of  ecclesiastical  affairs,  Dongan,  the  Roman 
Catholic  Governor,  says :  "  Every  town  ought  to  have  a  Min- 
ister. New  York  has,  first,  a  Chaplain  belonging  to  the  Fort 
of  the  Church  of  England  ;  secondly  a  Dutch  Calvinist ; 
thirdly  a  French  Calvinist ;  fourthly  a  Dutch  Lutheran — 
there  bee  not  many  of  the  Church  of  England  ;  few  Roman 
Catholic  ;  abundance  of  Quakers — Ranting  Quakers  ;  preach- 
ers, men  and  Women  especially  ;  singing  Quakers  ;  Sabbata- 
rians ;  Anti-Sabbatarians ;  some  Anabaptists,  some  Inde- 
pendents, some  Jews;  in  short  of  all  sorts  of  opinions  there 
are  some,  and  the  most  part  of  none  at  all."*  While  "  The 
Great  Church,  which  serves  both  the  English  &  the  Dutch, 
is  within  the  Fort  which  is  found  to  be  very  inconvenient 
therefore  I  desire  that  there  may  bee  an  order  for  their  build- 
ing an  other,  ground  already  being  layed  out  for  that  purpose, 
and  they  wanting  not  money  in  store  where  with  all  to  build  it." 
He  also  says:  "  As  for  the  King's  natural-born-subjects  that 
live  on  Long  Island  &  other  parts  of  Government  I  find  it 
a  hard  task  to  make  them   pay  their  ministers."  t     At  this 

*  Cadillac,  in  his  Memoir  on  Acadia,  1692,  says  of  New  York:  "  There  may 
be  in  the  toun  five  hundred  men  capable  of  bearing  arms,  but  they  could  [mus- 
ter] three  thousand  men  in  a  short  time.  Here  it  must  be  remarked  that  there 
are  a  great  many  Quakers  or  Tumblers  who  are  non-combatants.  The  Dutch 
Church  is  in  the  fort.  The  garrison  consists  of  60  men.  The  population  is 
composed  of  Calvinists,  Lutherans,  Anabaptists,  Jews,  Quakers,  Abadiens,  French 
Protestants  and  some  Catholics.  Each  sect  has  its  Church  and  freedom  of  relig- 
ion." He  adds,  "there  are  about  forty  English  families." — N.  Y.  Col.  Docs., 
IX.,  548. 

f  New  York  Documents  relating  to  the  Colonial  History,  III.,  p.  415. 


52  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

time  the  Common  Prayer  was  being  pressed  upon  the  peo- 
ple. 

The  Rev.  Alexander  Jones  succeeded  Mr.  Clarke  as  chap- 
lain to  the  garrison,  April  20,  1686.  There  was  now  a  popu- 
lation estimated  by  some  as  high  as  fifteen  or  eighteen  thou- 
sand, and  yet,  according  to  the  Governor,  the  number  of 
Churchmen  was  small.  In  the  same  paper  from  which  we 
have  already  quoted,  the  Governor  says  :  "  I  believe  for 
these  seven  years  last  past,  there  has  not  come  over  into  this 
province  twenty  English,  Scotch  or  Irish  Familys,  while  of 
French  there  have  since  my  coming  here  several  familys 
come  both  from  St  Christopher's  and  England,  and  a  great 
many  more  are  expected."*  The  Edict  of  Nantes  was  revoked 
October  22,  1685,  which  sent  thousands  of  Protestants  out  of 
France. 

Donean's  term  ended  in  1688,  and  on  April  7  of  that  year 
the  King  issued  a  Commission  to  Andros,  then  Governor  of 
New  England,f  constituting  him  Governor-General  of  New 
York,  New  Jersey  and  New  England.  The  time  had  now 
come  for  a  stronger  man  than  Dongan,  and  Andros  was  se- 
lected, not  only  on  account  of  his  known  firmness,  but  also  on 
account  of  his  large  knowledge  and  experience. 

The  new  Instructions  of  Andros  did  not  repeat  those  of 
Dongan  respecting  public  worship,  and  the  King  simply  says  : 
"You  are  to  permitt  a  liberty  of  conscience  in  matters  of  re- 
ligion to  all  persons,  so  they  be  contented  with  a  quiet  and 
peaceable  enjoyen'  of  it."  %  The  King  was  here  saying  a 
word  for  himself. 

The  change  was  hailed  with  satisfaction,  as  complaint  had 


*  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  III.,  399. 

f  His  instructions  as  Governor  of  New  England  have  not  been  published,  but 
a  synopsis  is  given  in  Chalmer's  Annals,  I,  420,  421,  463.  See  note  in  Brodhead's 
New  York,  II.,  450. 

%  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  III.,  546.  It  has  been  maintained  that  James  informed 
Pope  Innocent  XI.  that  "it  was  his  full  purpose  to  have  set  up  Roman  Catholic 
Religion  in  the  English  Plantations  of  America."  James,  it  is  said,  alarmed  the 
Cardinals  by  his  zeal,  and  they  are  reported  as  saying,  "We  must  excommunicate 
this  King,  who  will  destroy  the  little  of  Catholicism  which  remains  in  England." — 
Brodhead's  New  York,  II.,  532. 


PROCEEDINGS  AT   ST.    THOMAS'    CHURCH.  53 

been  made  that,  under  Dongan,  the  Roman  Catholics  had 
enjoyed  too  much  favor.  Andros  established  himself  in 
Boston,  while  Francis  Nicholson  served  as  his  deputy  in  New 
York.  He  protected  the  rights  of  Dongan's  co-religionists, 
as  in  duty  bound,  and  gave  the  minister  in  charge  of  the 
Roman  service  a  better  room  for  his  accommodation.  But 
while  progress  was  being  peacefully  made,  the  news  of  the 
fall  of  James  was  received,  and  then  followed  the  usurpation 
of  Leisler,  when  Chaplain  Innis  was  charged  with  being  out- 
wardly a  Protestant,  but  at  heart  "  a  meere  Papist."  The 
Leisler  controversy  is  one  that  we  are  not  called  to  consider 
here,  and  we  pass  it  by,  simply  observing  that,  when  the 
usurpation  was  over,  the  new  Governor,  Colonel  Sloughter, 
took  his  place  at  the  head  of  affairs.  His  Instructions  bore 
the  date  January  31,  1690,  and,  in  substance,  are  the  same  as 
Dongan's,  though  the  King  orders,  "You  are  to  permitt  liberty 
of  Conscience  to  all  Persons  (except  Papists)  so  that  they  be 
contented  with  a  quiet  and  peaceable  enjoyment  of  it,  not 
giving  offence  or  scandall  to  Government."  *  Sloughter 
came  to  New  York  at  once,  and  proceeded  to  carry  out  his 
instructions.  In  the  meanwhile,  May  13,  1691,  the  Assembly 
of  New  York  passed  an  act  similar  to  the  Charter  of  Liber- 
ties received  from  the  Duke  of  York,  and  accepted  October 
30,  1683.  Unlike  the  Duke's  Charter,  however,  this  act  main- 
tained the  Test  Act  hated  by  the  Duke,  declaring  that  it 
was  not  "  to  give  liberty  for  any  persons  of  the  Romish  religion 
to  exercise  their  manner  of  worship  contrary  to  the  laws 
and  statutes  of  their  majesties  Kingdom  of  England."  f  The 
clauses  of  the  Duke's  Charter  relating  to  privileged  churches 
were  omitted.  Nevertheless,  on  April  18,  1691,  Governor 
Sloughter  reopened  the  subject  of  Public  Worship,  and  a  bill 
was  introduced  into  the  Assembly,  not  with  reference  to 
establishing  the  Church,  which  was  already  established,  but 
with  reference  to  ;'  settling  the   Ministry."  ^     This  bill  was 

*  N.   Y.  Col.  Docs.  III.,  689. 

f  Brodhead's  Hist.  New  York,  II.,  645. 

%  "  A  Bill  for  settling  the  Ministry,  and  allotting  a  Maintenance  for  them,  in 
each  respective  city  and  toun  within  this  Province,  that  consists  of  forty  families 
and  upwards." — Hist.   Mag.,  1867,  p.  326. 


54  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

rejected,  and,  August  23,  1692,  another  was  presented,  pro- 
viding for  a  Minister  or  Reader  of  Divine  Service. 

Governor  Sloughter,  however,  soon  died  *  and  Benjamin 
Fletcher  was  appointed  March  18,  1692.  His  instructions 
were  like  those  of  his  predecessors,  and  he  understood  that 
he  was  to  use  all  proper  means  to  put  the  Church  on  the 
footing  of  an  establishment.  To  this  end  he  directed  his 
efforts.  In  October,  1692,  he  recommended  the  passage  of  a 
Ministry  Act.  April  3,  1693,  the  committee  having  the  matter 
in  charge,  begged  for  more  time,  when  they  were  ordered  to 
report  in  three  days.  The  Governor  declared  that  the  law  of 
Magna  Charta  provided  "  for  the  religion  of  the  Church  of 
England,  against  Sabbath  breaking,  Swearing,  and  all  other 
profanity."  Finally,  September  19,  1693,  a  bill  was  brought 
in,  and,  September  21,  it  was  sent  up  to  the  Governor 
and  Council,  passing  a  second  reading,  but  not  proving  satis- 
factory. With  an  amendment  to  the  effect  that  the  clergy 
appointed  should  be  "  approved  and  collated  "  by  the  Gov- 
ernor, it  was  sent  back,  but  the  Assembly  failed  to  concur  in 
the  amendment,  when  the  Governor  administered  a  sharp  re- 
buke, but  declared  the  bill  passed  and  prorogued  the  body. 
The  bill  was  not  what  the  Governor  wanted,  but  he  said,  "  I 
have  gott  them  to  Settle  a  fund  for  a  Ministry  in  the  City  of 
New  York  and  three  more  counties,  which  could  never  be 
obtained  before."  f 

January  6,  1694,  in  accordance  with  the  Act  of  Assembly, 
the  freeholders  of  New  York  City  elected  two  Wardens  and 
ten  Vestrymen.  February  5,  following,  the  latter  body  met 
and  voted  to  raise  one  hundred  pounds  for  the  support  of  a 
minister.  Six  days  later  they  held  another  meeting,  and  the 
record  states:  "By  a  majority  of  votes  itt  is  the  opinion  of 
ye  board  that  a  Dissenting  minister  be  called  to  have  the 
Care  of  Souls  for  this  Citty."  How  large  the  majority  was 
we  are  not  informed,  but  there  was  a  minority  of  the  contrary 
opinion,  in  which  minority  we  may  place  Mr.  Crooke,  who,  in 

*  N.   Y.  Col.  Docs.,  IV.,  117. 
f  Ar.  V.  Col.  Docs.,  IV.,  57. 


PROCEEDINGS  AT   ST.   THOMAS*   CHURCH.  55 

1796  and  1797  was  a  member  of  the  Board  which  took  definite 
ground  in  favor  of  the  Church  of  England.  Nothing,  how- 
ever, was  done  to  fill  the  office  of  Minister  of  New  York. 

February  15,  of  the  same  month,  the  Governor  took  the 
position  that  the  office  was  already  provided  for,  and  he  in- 
formed the  Council  that  the  Rev.  John  Miller,  chaplain  to 
the  forces,  was  virtually  entitled  to  the  living.  This  inter- 
pretation, however,  must  be  regarded  as  illogical.  At  least 
the  Governor's  Council  thought  so,  and  denied  Mr.  Miller's 
right.  Consequently  the  matter  was  dropped,  and  finally  the 
Wardens  and  Vestry  went  out  of  office  without  taking  any 
action. 

January  8,  1695,  there  was  a  second  election,  when  the 
result  was  more  favorable,  though  still  unsatisfactory.  Only 
four  of  the  old  Board  were  returned,  yet  its  attitude  was  hos- 
tile. The  Council  therefore  voted  that  those  parties  offending 
ought  to  be  prosecuted  at  the  public  expense.  Becoming 
alarmed,  the  Board  now  proceeded,  and,  as  the  record  states, 
voted  "  Nemine  Contra  Dicente  "  to  call  Mr.  William  Vesey  as 
Minister  of  New  York.  The  objectors,  of  whom  there  seems 
to  have  been  five,  acquiesced  in  a  sullen  spirit  to  the  wishes 
of  their  associates  and  the  Governor.     It  was  a  compromise. 

There  is  nothing  whatever  to  prove  that  a  majority  of  the 
Board  really  wished  Mr.  Vesey's  election,  nor  is  there  any- 
thing to  prove  that  he  was  even  notified  of  the  election.  The 
action  of  the  hostile  members  of  the  Board  may  be  regarded 
as  designed  to  avoid  prosecution.  Thus  the  movement  came 
to  nothing,  the  youth  of  Mr.  Vesey,  with  not  a  few,  no  doubt, 
being  an  objection  to  placing  him  in  so  responsible  a  position. 

April  12,  no  arrangements  had  been  made,  and  the 
obstructionists  in  the  Board,  to  the  number  of  five,  petitioned 
the  Assembly,*  which  decided  that  they  had  a  right  to  elect 
a  dissenting  minister.  Whereupon  Governor  Fletcher  pro- 
rogued the  Assembly,  which  lived  in  his  breath,  telling  the 

*  This  is  stated  by  Smith  in  History  of  Arew  York.  The  revised  edition 
also  makes  the  number  "  five,"  which  is  doubtless  correct.  The  writer  uses  Dr. 
Moore's  transcript  of  records  bearing  on  this  subject  {Hist.  Mag.,  1867),  but  re- 
jects interpretations  formerly  allowed. 


56  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

members  that  they  could  not  interpret  an  Act  which  they  did 
not  frame.  This  was  the  last  of  the  opposition  raised  by  the 
dissenting  party. 

January  14,  1696,  there  was  another  election,  which  proved 
altogether  favorable  to  the  Church.  This  Board,  including 
several  members  of  the  Board  of  "  Managers  of  the  Affairs  of 
the  Church  of  England  in  the  Citty  of  New  York,"  elected 
"  Mr.  William  Veasey  "  to  "  have  ye  care  of  souls  in  this  Citty 
of  New  York."  He  now  accepted,  and  agreed  to  go  to  Eng- 
land for  Orders,  though  it  must  be  observed  that  this  body  is 
not  to  be  confounded  with  the  Wardens  and  Vestry  of  Trinity 
Church,  which  was  not  yet  in  existence. 

Mr.  Vesey  went  to  England  and  was  ordained.  In  the 
meanwhile,  May  6,  1697,  Trinity  Church  was  chartered,  with 
the  Bishop  of  London  as  nominal  rector,  and  having  the 
position  of  an  Established  Church.  Mr.  Vesey  was  elected 
minister  December  24,  1697,  and  was  inducted  the  next  day, 
being  Christmas  Day.  Two  of  the  Dutch  clergy  served  as 
the  legal  witnesses,  thereby  substantially  accepting  the  situa- 
tion, being  accustomed  to  the  idea  of  a  State  Church,  which 
was  the  actual  position  of  the  Dutch  organization  prior  to 
the  occupation  of  New  York  by  the  English.  Humphreys 
states  that  Mr.  Vesey  was  favored  for  the  office  of  minis- 
ter of  Trinity  church  by  Colonel  Caleb  Heathcote,  while 
Fletcher  preferred  a  Mr.  Smith,  who  had  served  some  time  as 
minister  in  charge  of  King's  Chapel,  Boston.  Governor 
Fletcher  does  not  seem  to  have  approved  the  first  election  of 
Mr.  Vesey  by  the  city  Board,  but  the  explanation  is  found  in 
the  fact  that  he  desired  the  service  of  Mr.  Vesey  as  his  private 
chaplain.* 

It  remains  to  be  added  here,  however,  that  instead  of 
being  a  Dissenter,  Mr.  Vesey  was  of  a  Church  of  England 
family  in  Braintree,  Massachusetts,  being  a  communicant  of 
the  Church  in  his  fifteenth  year.  Graduating  from  Harvard 
college  at  an  age  when  he  could  not  receive  Orders  from  the 
Church  of  England,  he  was  advised  to  employ  his  gifts,  which 

*  See  Heathcote's  Letter  of  June  13,  1714,  in   Archives  of  the  Propagation 
Society,  London,  Vol.  IX.,  No.  19.      Also  The  Church  Press,  April  27,  18S6. 


PROCEEDINGS  AT   ST.    THOMAS'   CHURCH.  57 

were  admired,  wherever,  for  the  time  being,  he  could  be  use- 
ful. With  this  understanding  he  preached  first  at  Sag  and 
afterwards  at  Hempstead,  on  Long  Island,  where,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  Prayer  Book  was  employed  among  the  mixed  assem- 
blies, including  Churchmen,  Congregationalists  and  Presbyte- 
rians. Very  likely  he  used  it  in  his  ministrations.  There  is 
no  proof  that  he  ever  contemplated  permanent  service  any- 
where but  in  the  Church  ;  and  when  the  time  came  he  took 
Orders,  devoting  himself  loyally  to  the  ministry.* 

While  Trinity  church  was  being  finished,  Mr.  Vesey  con- 
ducted services  in  the  new  Dutch  church,  Domine  Selyns  say- 
ing that  the  "  Episcopal  Clergy"  "  live  with  us  in  all  friend- 
ship." f 

Trinity  church  was  opened,  for  the  first  time,  March  13, 
1698,  when  Mr.  Vesey  publicly  accepted  whatever  was  con- 
tained in  or  prescribed  by  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and 
read  the  certificate  of  the  Bishop  of  London,  attesting  his 
declaration  of  Conformity.  Among  those  in  New  York  who 
really  had  the  interests  of  religion  at  heart,  there  was  at  this 
time  an  excellent  feeling,  and  it  appears  that  Trinity  church 
was  not  finished  without  "a  contribution  by  several,  even  of 

*  The  statements  to  be  found  in  Briggs'  American  Presbyterianism,  pp.  144, 
145,  146,  147,  form  a  tissue  of  gross  misrepresentation.  The  statement  (p.  144) 
that  Mr.  Vesey  was  "  the  fourth  Puritan  minister  known  to  have  been  con- 
nected with  New  York,"  is  an  unfounded  assertion.  It  cannot  be  proved  that 
Mr.  Vesey  ever  preached  in  any  dissenting  assembly  of  this  city.  On  page  147  he 
is  stigmatized  as  "  the  unfaithful  Vesey,"  who  "  betrayed  the  Presbyterians  who 
had  chosen  him  as  their  leader."  This  is  all  grossly  erroneous.  He  came  to 
Long  Island  a  boy  of  nineteen,  and  preached  for  the  mixed  congregation  at  Hemp- 
stead, in  the  building  where  his  successor,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Thomas,  a  Missionary  of 
the  Propagation  Society,  was  inducted  in  1704.  The  writer  will  treat  this  subject 
elsewhere,  and  he  now  refers  to  a  lecture  read  before  the  New  York  Historical 
Society,  found  in  the  New  York  Evening  Post,  of  February  3,  1886. 

f  This  worthy  man  says,  in  1696  :  "  For  the  two  English  Churches  in  this  city 
which  have  been  formed  since  our  new  Church  was  built, — one  of  our  churches  being 
in  the  fort  and  the  other  in  the  city,  and  both  of  them  very  neat,  curious  and  all 
of  stone, — there  are  two  Episcopal  Clergymen  who  by  arrangement  preach  in  our 
church  after  my  morning  and  evening  service,  and  live  with  us  in  all  friendship." — 
Historical  Magazine,  1867,  p.  12.  The  reference  here  may  be  to  Mr.  Vesey,  then 
in  New  York,  where  he  may  have  preached  without  orders  as  he  did  at  Kings' 
Chapel,  Boston,  for  a  period  of  three  months,  or  to  a  Mr.  Smith,  or  to  both. 


58  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

the  French  and  Dutch  Churches  as  well  as  the  English."  *  For 
the  completion  of  the  "Steeple"  in  171 1,  the  Jews  made  a 
special  contribution,  and  about  thirty  French  names  are  found 
in  the  list  of  subscribers. 

The  Spirit  of  Toleration,  however,  was  marred  in  the  year 
1700  by  the  action  of  the  Assembly,  in  passing  a  Bill  against 
Jesuits  and  all  Roman  Catholic  Ecclesiastics,  and  all  who  har- 
bored them,  though  the  Roman  Catholic  laity  were  entitled 
to  the  private  enjoyment  of  their  opinions.  Their  public  ser- 
vices were  not  legalized  until  the  period  of  the  Revolution.f 

The  years  1701  must  ever  be  held  memorable,  as  at  that 
time  "  The  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  For- 
eign Parts"  was  organized,  receiving  its  Charter  from  William 
III.  With  the  commencement  of  operations  by  the  Venerable 
Society,  the  Church  in  America  began  to  grow.  Missionaries 
soon  found  their  way  into  all  the  principal  colonies. 

The  Church  Services  were  commenced  in  the  colony  of  Vir- 
ginia in  1607,  and  in  due  time  gained  the  footing  of  a  legal 
establishment.  In  1642  the  first  church  in  New  England  was 
organized  at  Portsmouth,  then  known  as  "  Strawberry  Bank." 
In  1664  the  Church  Services  were  held  without  molestation  in 
Boston,  and  in  1686  the  foundations  of  King's  Chapel  were 
laid.  At  the  time  the  Venerable  Society  was  organized  be- 
ginnings had  already  been  made  in  Pennsylvania,  North  Car- 
olina and  New  Jersey ;  but  afterwards  work  was  commenced 
in  earnest  in  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island  and  elsewhere.  In 
1702,  Keith,  Talbot  and  Gordon  were  sent  over,  and  Keith 
preached  in  Hempstead  to  a  favorable  congregation.  By  re- 
quest of  Mr.  Vesey,  he  also  preached  in  New  York  on  Sep- 
tember 30.^:  Gordon  went  to  Jamaica,  but  died  before  actu- 
ally entering  upon  work.  In  1704  Mr.  Thomas  was  inducted 
at  Hempstead.  Keith  also  preached  at  New  London,  Con- 
necticut. Mr.  Muirson,  in  1705,  settled  in  the  town  of  Rye, 
then  a  part  of  Connecticut.  About  the  year  1704  services 
were  commenced  at  St.  Andrews,  Richmond,  Staten  Island, 

*  Doc.  Rel.  to  the  Col.  Hist.,  IV.,  463. 

f  See  Bradford's  edition'of  the  Laws  of  New  York,  17 10,  p.  37. 

%  Keith's  Journal  of  Travels,  London,  1706,  p.  50. 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   ST.   THOMAS'   CHURCH.  59 

and  a  church  was  built  in  1713.  In  1709  the  Huguenot  Church 
at  New  Rochelle  conformed  to  the  Church  of  England.*  In 
1702  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bartow  began  his  work  at  Westchestei.  At 
Albany  the  Rev.  Thomas  Barclay  officiated  in  1708  as  chaplain 
of  Fort  Anne,  and  at  Schenectady  in  the  Dutch  Church.  In 
1704  there  was  also  a  distinct  effort  to  encourage  the  forma- 
tion of  a  French  church  in  New  York  with  Episcopal  minis- 
trations, f 

These  were  some  of  the  beginnings,  but  for  a  considerable 
time  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  formed  the  principal  ex- 
pression of  Church  life  and  activity.  Around  this  now  grow- 
ing corporation,  the  most  of  the  ecclestiastical  events  were 
grouped.  For  about  fifty  years  Mr.  Vesey  continued  at  the 
head  of  the  Parish,  meeting  more  or  less  opposition,  it  is  true, 
but  at  the  same  time  winning  the  highest  approval  for  char- 
acter and  worth. 

His  principal  support  was  provided  by  the  Act  of  1693, 
though  on  one  occasion  there  was  a  delay  in  raising  his  salary, 
owing  to  opposition  from  men  outside  the  Church.;}:  A  Royal 
Mandate,  however,  reduced  the  refractory  parties  to  submis- 
sion, showing  that  Trinity  occupied  the  position  of  an  Estab- 
lished Church. 

Lord  Bellomont  was  appointed  to  succeed  Fletcher,  June 
8,  1797,  but  the  latter,  as  we  have  seen,  continued  to  exercise 
his  functions,  and  it  was  not  until  April  of  the  following  year 
that  Bellomont  arrived  at  New  York.  §  His  Instructions  re- 
specting the  maintenance  of  the  Church  of  England  were 
similar  to  those  given  to  Dongan,  ||  and  Bellomont  did  not 
hesitate  in  carrying  them  out,  even  going  beyond  them,  and, 
in  some  cases,  resorting  to  oppression. 

*  Bolton's  Westchester,  p  394. 

f  Doc.  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,  III.,  75,  8vo.  Ed.  August  10,  1708,  Mr.  Vesey  ad- 
dressed the  Venerable  Society,  asking  for  "Some  Common  Prayer  Books  in 
English,  Dutch  and  French." — Society's  MSS.,  Vol.  III.,  No.  71.  At  least  one 
copy  of  the  Dutch  Book  is  now  in  existence.  The  Dutch  Common  Prayer  seems 
to  have  been  used  by  Mr.  Barclay  at  Albany. 

\  Berrian's  History  of  Trinity  Church,  p.  328. 

§  Commission  in  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  IV.,  266. 

1  Ibid.  287. 


60  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

The  death  of  Lord  Bellomont  created  a  vacancy,  and,  June 
13,  1701,  Lord  Cornbury  was  appointed  his  successor.  The 
Commission  of  the  latter  is  not  given  in  the  collection  of 
printed  Colonial  Documents,  nor  is  any  copy  to  be  found  in 
the  country,  but  the  original  Commission,  with  the  two  sets 
of  Instructions,  is  still  in  existence.  The  Instructions  give 
Cornbury  the  same  ecclesiastical  power  vested  in  his  prede- 
cessors, but  no  more,*  notwithstanding  a  claim  to  this 
effect  was  made  on  his  behalf  in  connection  with  the  trial,  of 
the  Presbyterian,  the  Rev.  Francis  Mackamie.  Under  this 
Governor,  Trinity  Church,  in  1704,  received  a  new  Charter 
from  the  Assembly,  which  fully  remedied  any  defects  in  the 
instrument  granted  by  Fletcher  and  rendered  the  legal  position 
of  the  parish  secure  beyond  question. f  Of  Cornbury  himself 
little  need  to  be  said.  The  impartial  student  of  this  period  will 
not  care  to  attempt  any  vindication  of  his  course  towards  the 
Presbyterians,  whatever  may  have  been  the  want  of  judgment 
exhibited  by  their  representative.  The  Governor,  however, 
was  no  more  arbitrary  in  his  treatment  of  Mr.  Mackamie  than 
in  his  conduct  towards  Churchmen.  $     In   1707  the  Rev.  Mr. 

*  They  are  in  the  hands  of  private  parties,  and  form  an  important  historical 
monument. 

\N.   Y.  Col.  Docs.,  IV.,  1 1 14. 

%  See  Smith's  History  of  New  Jersey,  Ed.  1765,  p.  333,  and  Hill's  History 
of  the  Church  in  Burlington,  pp.  66-73.  On  Mackamie,  see  his  ATarrative,  in 
Force's  Archives,  Vol.  IV.  At  Mackamie's  trial,  false  representations  appear 
to  have  been  made  respecting  the  scope  of  Cornbury's  Instructions,  but  the  writer 
must  do  the  Governor  the  justice  to  say  that  these  representations  may  have  been 
made  ultimately  by  the  Governor's  friends,  rather  than  by  the  Governor  himself. 
Cornbury  claimed  the  right  to  license  ministers  of  all  denominations,  which  power 
was  not  given  either  by  his  Instructions  or  his  Commission,  though  he  had  this 
power  with  respect  to  school-masters.  The  Instructions  have  never  been  printed, 
but  the  original  document,  with  the  signature  of  the  Queen,  has  been  examined 
by  the  writer.  The  Instructions  with  respect  to  the  debated  clause  stands  as 
follows  :  "  You  are  to  inquire  whether  there  be  any  Minister  within  your  Govern- 
ment, who  preaches  and  administers  the  Sacraments  in  any  Orthodox  Church  or 
Chapell  without  being  in  due  orders,  and  to  give  an  account  thereof  to  the  Said 
Bishop  of  London."  On  the  same  subject  the  Commission  says  :  "  We  do  by  these 
presents  authorise  and  impower  you  to  collate  any  pron  or  prons  to  any  Churches 
or  Chappells  or  other  ecclesiastical  benefices  within  our  said  province  or  depend- 
encies aforesaid  as  often  as  that  any  of  them  shall  happen  to  be  void."     With 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   ST.   THOMAS'   CHURCH.  6l 

Moore,  Missionary  of  the  Venerable  Society,  was  dragged  from 
Burlington  to  Amboy,  and  thence  taken  a  prisoner  to  New 
York,  where  he  was  confined  in  the  fort,  the  entire  proceedings 
being  of  the  most  arbitrary  and  unjustifiable  character. 

On  the  other  hand,  Logan,  the  friend  of  William  Penn, 
wrote  of  Cornbury  as  the  "Savior"  of  the  Quakers  at  New 
York,  who  were  "  well  satisfied  to  be  under  him,  for  they 
believe  that  they  could  never  have  one  more  excellent." 

Eventually  it  became  necessary  to  remove  Cornbury  from 
power,  and  thereupon  his  creditors  threw  him  into  jail,  whence, 
after  satisfying  their  claims,  he  found  his  way  back  to  Eng- 
land. 

Lord  John  Lovelace  was  appointed  to  succeed  Cornbury, 
[n  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  early  in  1708,*  though  he  did 
not  arrive  in  New  York  until  December.  He  was  warmly 
welcomed  by  the  people  ;  but  suffered  from  ill-health  during 
the  winter,  and  died  May  6,  following.  His  funeral  sermon 
was  preached  by  Mr.  Vesey,  in  Trinity  Church,  May  12,  1709, 
when  a  glowing  eulogy  was  pronounced. f 

June  14,  1710,  Robert  Hunterwas  commissioned  by  Queen 
Anne  to  succeed  Cornbury,  his  Instructions  following  the  old 
pattern.  Under  him  Mr.  Vesey's  position  was  more  or  less 
unpleasant,  and  he  was  the  subject  of  sharp  attacks,  based  on 
political  ground,  it  being  insinuated  that  he  was  a  Jacobin. 
Hunter  used  all  his  power  to  annoy  him,  but  with  little  avail. ;{: 

respect  to  school-masters  it  is  ordered  :  "  We  do  farther  direct  that  no  School- 
master be  henceforth  permitted  to  come  from  England  and  Keep  Schools  within 
Our  Province  of  New  York,  without  the  Lycense  of  the  Said  Bishop  of  London, 
and  that  no  other  person  now  there,  or  that  shall  come  from  other  parts,  be 
admitted  to  Keep  School  without  your  license  first  obtained."  See  on  this  contro- 
versy an  article  by  Mr.  Brodhead  in  the  Hist.  Mag.,  Nov.  1863,  p.  329.  On 
Cornbury's  New  Jersey  Instructions,  see  Smith's  New  Jersey,  p.  230. 

*  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  V.,  39,  40,  additional  Instructions  are  found  in  this  volume, 
also  fragments  of  Instructions;  yet  the  Church  was  now  recognized  by  Law.  Love- 
lace was  recommended  to  give  a  glebe  to  a  poor  German  minister  of  the  Palati- 
nate, but  this  was  not  to  be  construed  as  forcing  a  precedent. 

f  See  Sermon  reprinted  in  N.  Y.  Colls.,  1880. 

%  See  Governor  Hunter's  Letters,  N.  J.  Archives,  S.  I.,  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  2 16, 
219,  220,  223,  225.  See  also  Atwood's  attacks  in  N.  Y.  Hist.  Coll.  Hunter  com- 
bined with  others  in  slandering  Mr.  Vesey. 


62  CENTENNIAL  CHURCH   HISTORY. 

Mr.  Vesey  returned  from  a  visit  to  Europe  in  171 5,  bringing 
his  commission  as  Commissary  of  the  Bishop  of  London. 

Hunter  left  New  York,  July  19,  1719,  and  April  19,  1720, 
William  Burnet,  son  of  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  succeeded 
him.  The  change  formed  a  most  agreeable  relief  to  the  Rec- 
tor of  Trinity  Church,  as  his  differences  with  the  late  Govern- 
or, like  those  with  Bellomont,  and  with  Fletcher,  also,  at  the 
close  of  his  rule,  had  rendered  him  more  or  less  uncomforta- 
ble.* These  difficulties  do  not,  however,  concern  us  now,  and 
we  hasten  on  to  say,  that  Burnet  was  superseded  October  4, 
1727,  by  John  Montgomerie,  who,  in  turn,  was  followed  by 
William  Cosby,  1732  ;  at  whose  death,  in  1736,  the  govern- 
ment devolved  upon  George  Clarke.  The  latter  continued 
until  1743,  when  George  Clinton  was  appointed.  It  may  be 
interesting  here  to  mention  that  in  1739  an  effort  was  made 
to  find  out  the  actual  condition  of  the  Church  in  New  York 
and  New  Jersey,  Mr.  Vesey,  as  Commissary,  and  authorized 
by  the  Bishop  of  London,  sending  out  a  request  to  the  clergy 
to  meet  him  at  Trinity  church,  May  2,  1739.  The  following 
clergy  attended :  The  Rev.  Mr.  Charlton,  Catechist,  in  New 
York;  Mr.  Standard,  of  Westchester ;  Jenney,  of  Hempstead  ; 
Mr.  Stouppe,  of  New  Rochelle ;  Mr.  Wetmore,  of  Rye ;  Mr. 
Barclay,  of  Albany ;  Mr.  Brown,  of  Brookhaven  ;  Mr.  Vaughan, 
of  Elizabeth  ;  Mr.  Campbell,  of  Burlington  ;  Mr.  Pierson,  of 
Salem  ;  Mr.  Miln,  of  Monmouth  Co.;  Mr.  Harrison,  of  Staten 
Island.  Several  were  prevented  from  attending  "by  sickness 
and  other  accidents."  The  reports  presented  were  meagre 
and  show  the  day  of  small  things.f 

July  11,  1746,  Mr.  Vesey  died,  being  succeeded  by  the 
Rev.  Henry  Barclay,  D.D.  Owing  to  dissensions,  Governor 
Clinton  resigned,  leaving  James  De  Lancey,  Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor. Sir  Danvers  Osborn  was  appointed  in  his  stead,  Octo- 
ber 10,  1753,  when  he  named  De  Lancey  his  lieutenant.    The 

*  The  Instructions  are  like  others  with  which  we  are  so  familiar.  See  A7.  J. 
Coll.,  Ser.  I.,  Vol  v.,  p.  i.     See  N.   Y.  Coll.  Docs.  Index  volume  at  "  Vesey." 

f  The  Letters  and  report  copied  by  the  writer  from  the  originals  in  the  Library 
of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Ports,  are  appended 
to  this  sketch. 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   ST.   THOMAS'   CHURCH.  63 

latter,  only  two  days  later,  on  the  demise  of  his  principal,  suc- 
ceeded to  the  Government.*  October  31,  1754,  De  Lancey 
signed  the  Charter  for  Kings',  now  Columbia,  College.  Its 
provisions  required  that  the  President  should  be  a  member  of 
the  Church  of  England,  and  Dr.  Johnson,  of  Stratford,  Con- 
necticut, was  chosen.  This  favor  shown  to  the  Church  excited 
the  ire  of  the  Presbyterian  party,  and  a  sharp  controversy 
followed,  leaving  the  advantage  with  the  Church.  January 
29>  1 75 5»  Sir  Charles  Hardy  was  appointed  Governor  of  New 
York,f  holding  the  office  until  June  3,  1757,  when  he  nomi- 
nated Chief-Justice  De  Lancey  Lieutenant-Governor,  and 
sailed  for  Halifax.  The  conduct  of  Sir  Charles  was  most  ex- 
emplary, and  he  was  distinguished  over  several  of  his  prede- 
cessors for  his  attendance  on  the  services  of  the  Church,  as  is 
testified  by  President  Johnson,  in  a  letter  to  Archbishop 
Seeker,  in  17594  at  which  period  Dr.  Johnson  urged  upon  that 
prelate  the  importance  of  a  mission  at  Cambridge,  Massachu- 
setts, for  the  reason  that  that  town  was  the  seat  of  an  insti- 
tution of  learning.§  Dr.  Johnson  was  one  of  those  who  took 
a  mild  view  of  the  situation,  and  expressed  the  idea  that 
Churchmen  at  this  period  simply  desired  the  same  privileges 
granted  to  others,  who  were  at  liberty  to  perfect  their  sys- 
tems, and  that,  on  the  same  ground,  Churchmen  should  be 
allowed  to  perfect  theirs  by  securing  the  Episcopate.  ||  This 
apologetic  strain  was  deemed  prudent  by  some,  but  there  is 
no  proof  that  any  good  was  done  by  yielding  anything  to 
Dissent. 

*  This  person  became  deranged  and  committed  suicide. 

f  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  VI.,  935,  939,  947,  960. 

\  Dr.  Johnson,  in  a  long  letter,  in  which  he  discusses  the  legal  status  of  the 
Church  in  New  York  and  the  need  of  a  Bishop,  says  :  "  Meantime  I  humbly 
beg  your  Grace's  influence,  if  possible  that  such  may  be  appointed  governors 
from  time  to  time,  as  are  friends  to  religion,  and  will  countenance  and  encourage 
the  Church,  and  set  an  example  of  constant,  or  at  least  frequent  attendance  on  the 
public  worship,  which  has  not  always  been  the  case  ;  and  when  it  is  otherwise  the 
ill  of  great  examples  are  very  deplorable.  We  have  rarely  seen  a  Governor  at 
Church  in  this  Province  except  Sr  Charles,  since  the  year  1743." — JV.  Y.  Coll. 
Docs.,  VII.,  373-4- 

§  N.  Y.  Coll.  Docs.,  VII.,  374. 

I  Ibid.  Vol.  VII.,  for  Letters  of  Dr.  Johnson  on  this  subject. 


64  CENTENTIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

March  20,  1 761 ,  after  the  death  of  De  Lancey,  Robert 
Moncton  was  appointed  Governor,*  and  Cadwallader  Colden, 
Lieutenant-Governor.  Moncton  soon  resigned,  leaving  his 
subordinate  to  meet  the  political  storm  that  was  now  rising 
in  the  Colonies. 

At  this  time  another  change  came  in  Trinity  Church,  and 
on  August  28,  1  764,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Auchmuty,  the  Assistant 
Minister,  succeeding  Dr.  Barclay,  who  was  removed  by  death. 

Sir  Henry  Moore  was  the  next  Governor,f  upon  whose 
death  he  was  followed  by  the  Earl  of  Dunmore4  St.  Paul's 
Chapel,  which  had  been  commenced  in  1763,  was  finished  in 
1766. 

In  the  midst  of  these  dark  days  an  attempt  was  made  to 
secure  something  in  the  way  of  organization.  March  21,  1766, 
the  Clergy  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Connecticut  formed 
themselves  into  a  convention.  The  first  meeting  was  held  at 
the  house  of  Dr.  Auchmuty,  when  fourteen  of  the  Clergy 
were  present.  Dr.  Johnson,  of  Connecticut,  was  elected 
President,  and  the  Rev.  Samuel  Seabury,  of  Jamaica,  Long 
Island,  Secretary.  In  this  capacity  Mr.  Seabury  appears  to 
have  been  both  useful  and  influential,  though  it  forms  an 
episode  of  his  life  that  seems  to  have  escaped  notice.  The 
president  of  the  convention  was  to  be  elected  annually,  being 
ineligible  for  more  than  two  terms.  Three  members  could 
call  a  special  convention,  while  due  care  was  taken  to  have  the 
Clergy  outside  of  New  York  represented  on  the  standing 
committee.  Messrs.  Auchmuty,  Cooper,  Charlton,  Munro, 
and  the  Secretary  formed  the  Standing  Committee.  Two 
special  conventions  were  held  the  next  year.  § 

The  New  York  Journal  of  July  19,  1768,  has  the  follow- 
ing: 

*  See  notice  of  in  N.   Y.  Coll.  Docs.,  VIII.,  250. 

f  Appointed  June  20,  1765.  N.  Y.  Coll.  Docs.,  VII.,  745.  He  died  Septem- 
ber 11,  1769. 

\  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  VIII.,  193.  For  a  full  list  of  Governors  see  the  N.  Y.  Civil 
List,  1882,  p.  152,  though  all  the  dates  cannot  be  followed. 

§  The  records  of  these  conventions,  in  the  handwriting  of  the  Secretary,  are 
in  the  possession  of  his  descendant,  the  Rev.  Wm.  J.  Seabury,  D.D. ,  of  New 
York  City. 


PROCEEDINGS  AT   ST.   THOMAS'    CHURCH.  65 

'  On  Wednesday  last  the  annual  Convention  of  the  Epis- 
copalian ministers  of  this  Province,  Connecticut  and  New 
Jersey  was  held  in  this  city,  on  which  occasion  a  Sermon  was 
preached  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cooper,  President  of  King's  Col- 
lege, on  the  former  part  of  the  first  verse  of  the  28th  ch. 
of  Exodus.  A  larger  Number  of  ministers  were  present  than 
ever  assembled  before  on  like  occasion."*  The  same  journal 
says  on  the  thirty-first: 

"  Saturday  last  the  Supreme  Court  ended  here  when  John 
Hennessey,for  Felony  and  Sacrilege,  in  stealing  the  Sattin  Cov- 
ering of  the  Cushions  of  St.  Paul's,  in  this  city,  received  Sen- 
tence of  Death,  and  is  to  be  executed  the  23d  of  August." 
The  Chronicle  of  August  24,  announces  "a  pardon  from  his 
Excellency." 

From  the  New  York  Journal  it  also  appears  that,  May  25, 
1772,  the  Clergy  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey  "  met  in  their 
first  annual  voluntary  convention,"  when  they  presented  an 
address  to  Governor  Tryon,  in  which  the  belief  is  expressed 
that  he  will  grant  "  to  the  Church  of  England  in  this  province 
all  that  Countenance  and  Protection  to  which  it  is  justly  en- 
titled." The  address  is  signed  by  "  Samuel  Seabury,  Secre- 
tary." 

In  September  of  the  same  year  the  "Corporation  for  the 
Relief  of  the  Widows  and  Children  of  Clergymen,  in  the 
Communion  of  the  Church  of  England  in  America,"  was  in 
session  at  Trinity  Church. 

February  8,  1774,  a  lottery  of  £4,000  was  projected  to  pur- 
chase "a  piece  of  ground,  and  erecting  a  church  thereon  for 
the  congregation  of  the  Church  of  England,  which  now  most 
inconveniently  assemble  in  Horse  and  Cart  Street."  f  A 
similar  enterprise  was  projected  the  next  month  for  "  a  Church 
at  Brookland  Ferry,  opposite  the  city  of  New  York,  under  the 
patronage  of  the  Rector,  and  the  Vestry  of  Trinity  Church," 

*  Quoted  in  "  Old  New  York  and  Trinity  Church"  in  N.  Y.  Society's  Coll.,  1870, 
p.  199.  A  valuable  compilation  by  Mr.  William  Kelby,  Assistant  Librarian  of 
the  New  York  Historical  Society. 

f  Now  Williams  Street.  The  history  of  that  congregation  is  not  known  to  the 
writer. 


66  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

pointing  to  the  beginning  of  St.  Ann's.*  The  records  of 
Trinity  are  silent  on  the  subject. 

Governor  Tryon  reached  New  York  July  8,  I77i,fbut  was 
obliged  to  turn  over  the  government  to  Colden,  being  the 
last  Colonial  Governor  of  New  York.  General  Washington 
arrived  in  New  York  April,  1776,  placing  the  Department 
under  General  Putnam. 

This  was  a  period  of  great  trouble  and  distress,  yet  three 
assistant  ministers  were  called  to  Trinity  Church  in  1774, 
namely,  the  Rev.  John  Wardill,  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Moore, 
the  Rev.  John  Bowden,  the  last  two  accepting  positions. 

When  the  storm  fully  burst  upon  New  York,  the  Rector 
of  Trinity,  being  in  feeble  health,  retired  to  the  country,  leav- 
ing his  oldest  assistant,  Mr.  Inglis,  in  charge. 

It  was  with  great  difficulty  that  the  services  were  main- 
tained, owing  to  the  hostility  of  the  people.  Mr.  Inglis  and 
his  friends  felt  that  they  were  more  or  less  in  danger,  but  in- 
vestigations prove  that  the  danger  was  exaggerated,  as  Wash- 
ington was  in  the  city,  a  worshipper  at  Church,  and  not 
likely  to  allow  any  violence. 

September  15,  1776,  the  American  forces  abandoned  New 
York,  when  the  British  troops  entered  and  held  the  place  until 
November  25,  1783.  This  brought  relief  and  gladness  to 
Churchmen,^:  but  on  the  following  Saturday  a  great  fire  broke 
out,  destroying  several  hundred  houses.  Trinity  Church  and 
the  Rector's  residence,  together  with  the  Charity  School 
houses,  were  reduced  to  ashes.  The  two  Chapels  and  King's 
College  were  saved. 

*Rivington's  Gazetteer,  Feb.  17,  1774.  Coll.  N.  Y.  Hist.  Soc,  1870,  p.  241. 
J  bid.  242. 

f  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  VIII.,  278.  He  was  formerly  Governor  of  North  Carolina, 
and  Dunmore  wanted  to  exchange  governments  with  him.  Tryon  recognized 
the  impractical  character  of  the  home  government,  but  stood  by  his  instructions, 
remaining  until  the  hostility  of  the  people  became  unendurable,  though  returning 
later  to  push  unrelenting  hostilities. 

\  On  the  "  State  of  the  Anglo-American  Church"  in  1776,  see  the  long  letter 
of  Inglis,  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y,  Vol.  III.,  p.  637,  8  vo.  Ed.  A  newspaper  cutting 
of  Aug.  17,  1776,  says  :  "  The  Episcopal  Churches  in  New  York  are  all  shut  up, 
the  prayer-books  burned,  and  the  ministers  scattered  abroad,  in  this  and  the 
neighboring  provinces.  It  is  now  Puritan's  high  holiday  season,  and  they  enjoy 
t  with  rapture." 


PROCEEDINGS  AT   ST.   THOMAS'   CHURCH.  6j 

In  March,  1777,  "  We,  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England, 
convened  in  the  City  of  New  York,"  presented  an  address  to 
General  Howe,  while  at  the  same  period  Mr.  Seabury  preached 
occasionally  in  the  city,  if  not  often,  where  he  published  two 
sermons. 

Dr.  Auchmuty  died  in  March,  1777,  and  Mr.  Inglis  was 
elected  Rector  of  Trinity  Church  on  the  20th  of  the 
same  month.  His  institution  did  not  take  place  in  one  of 
the  Chapels,  but  he  was  brought  to  the  ruins  of  the  church, 
and  inducted  by  placing  his  hand  upon  the  ruined  wall. 
April  13,  1778,  while  the  war  was  still  raging,  "The  Church 
at  Brooklyn  was  opened  and  Divine  Service,  according  to  the 
ritual  of  the  Church  of  England,  performed  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Sears." 

With  the  return  of  peace  Mr.  Inglis  resigned  the  rector- 
ship of  Trinity  Church,  and  retired  to  Nova  Scotia.  Mr. 
Moore  was  elected  to  succeed  him,  but  circumstances  pre- 
vented his  induction,  and  the  Rev.  Samuel  Provoost  was 
elected,  April  22,  1784* 

October  5th  and  8th,  1784,  "The  Corporation  for  the  re- 
lief of  the  widows  and  children  of  the  Episcopal  Clergy,"  was 
held  in  New  York,  and  it  was  decided  to  meet  the  next  time 
at  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  on  the  Feast  of  St.  Michael's.  Dr. 
William  Smith  was  President,  and  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Moore, 
Secretary.f 

We  now  reach  the  period  of  diocesan  organization,  and 
find  recorded  the  "  Proceedings  of  a  Convention  of  the  Prot- 
estant Episcopal  Church,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  on 
Wednesday,  June  22d,  1785."^:  The  record  is  brief,  occupying 
only  a  single  page.  It  is  not  stated  where  the  convention 
was  held,  but  as  Trinity  church  had  not  been  rebuilt,  and 
since  some  following  conventions  were  held  in  St.  Paul's 
Chapel,  it  may  reasonably  be  inferred  that  the  initial  conven- 
tion was  held  in  that  place.     This  indeed  seems  quite  certain 

*  Collections  of  the  N.   Y.  Hist.  Soc,  1870,  p.  320. 

f  See   History  of  Society,    Bp.   Perry's  History  of  the  American  Episcopal 
Church,  I.,  647.  Coll.  N.  Y.  Hist.  Soc,  1870,  335. 
\  Republished  with  other  early  journals,  1844. 


68  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

from  the  form  of  invitation  dated  May  22,  1786,  addressed  to 
the  Church  at  Poughkeepsie,  inviting  them  to  send  delegates 
"  to  meet  again  in  St.  Paul's  Chapel."* 

The  record  says :  "  This  State  Convention  having  associ- 
ated agreeably  to  the  recommendation  of  the  General  Conven- 
tion held  in  this  city,  on  the  6th  and  7th  of  October,  1784, 
proceeded  to  take  into  consideration  the  matters  recom- 
mended by  the  said  General  Convention."  Now  there  was  no 
"  General  Convention  "  in  New  York  in  1 784,  and  the  statement 
must  be  understood  as  referring  to  proceedings  taken  in  con- 
nection with  the  meeting  of  the  Corporation  for  the  relief  of 
Widows  and  Children  of  the  Clergy,  which  the  extract,  al- 
ready quoted,  says  took  place  on  the  "  5th  and  8th."  Bishop 
White's  statement,  prefaced  to  Bioren's  Edition  of  the  Jour- 
nals of  General  Convention,  further  explains  the  matter,  and 
shows  that,  in  connection  with  this  meeting,  action  was  taken 
with  reference  to  organization,  the  same  even  having  been 
done  at  a  meeting  of  the  Society  held  the  previous  year  at 

*  In  the  hope  of  gaining  definite  information  on  this  point,  the  writer  corre- 
sponded with  the  rectors  of  the  various  parishes  represented  at  the  second  con- 
vention. The  only  information  gleaned  was  contained  in  a  letter  found  by  the 
Rev.  Henry  L.  Ziegenfuss,  Rector  of  Christ  Church,  Poughkeepsie,  among  the 
archives  of  that  ancient  parish.  Mr.  Ziegenfuss  very  kindly  sent  the  appended 
copy. 

N.  York  May  23 

The  Churchwardens  and  Vestrymen 
of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
at  Poughkeepsie 
Gentlemen 

The  Convention  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  to  which  you  were  in- 
vited to  send  Delegates,  after  sitting  two  Days  adjourned,  to  meet  again  in  St. 
Paul's  Chapel  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  June  between  the  Hours  of  ten  and 
eleven  A.M.  as  affairs  of  considerable  moment  will  then  come  before  the  Con- 
vention, as  full  a  representation  as  possible  of  the  Church  in  this  State  is  to  be 
wished  for. — Your  congregation  therefore  is  earnestly  requested  to  depute  persons 
properly  authorised  to  meet  at  the  Time  and  Place  above  mentioned. — 

We  are  gentlemen  with  great  Respect 
your  most  obedient  and  very  Humble  Servants 
Sam.1  Provoost  Rect :  Trin:  Church, 
AbrH1  Beach,  and  Ben)?  Moore 
New  York  May  22d  1786 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   ST.   THOMAS'   CHURCH.  69 

New  Brunswick.  Deputies  were  present  from  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania,  but  they  represented  simply 
themselves.  Bishop  White  says,  "  they  called  themselves  a 
Convention,  in  the  lax  sense  in  which  the  word  had  been  be- 
fore used,  yet  they  were  not  an  organized  body,"  and  "  did  not 
consider  themselves  as  such,"  nevertheless  they  projected  a 
plan  for  a  General  Convention  the  year  following.  *  In  the 
"Memoirs  "  Bishop  White  makes  a  fuller  statement  of  the  case. 
This  first  convention  therefore  grew  out  of  the  suggestions  of 
the  informal  gathering  of  the  previous  year. 

On  the  assembling  of  the  convention,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Pro- 
voost  read  prayers,  and  Mr.  Moore,  of  Trinity  Church,  was  ap- 
pointed Secretary.  The  only  business  that  appears  to  have 
been  transacted  was  the  election  of  three  Clerical  and  three 
Lay  Deputies  "  to  represent  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
in  the  State  of  New  York,  in  the  general  convention  which  is 
to  be  held  at  Philadelphia,  on  the  Tuesday  before  the  Feast 
of  St.  Michael  next."  f 

The  convention  met  again  May  16,  the  next  year,  in  St. 
Paul's  Chapel,  when  Mr.  Duane  reported  the  proceedings  of 
the  Philadelphia  Convention,  whose  members  had  devised 
a  Proposed  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  made  arrangements 
to  apply  to  England  for  the  Episcopate.  This  application  was 
heartily  endorsed  by  New  York.  At  an  adjourned  meeting  of 
the  convention  held  June  14,  Mr.  Provoost  was  "  recom- 
mended for  Episcopal  consecration."  The  Rev.  William 
White  was  designated  by  the  Clergy  of  Pennsylvania  for  the 
same  office,  September  14. 

*  See  Bioren's  Journal,  also  White's  "  Memoirs  "  3d  Ed.  p.  19. 

f  The  following  is  the  list  of  those  present :  "  From  Trinity  Church,  New 
York,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Provoost,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Beach,  Rev.  Mr.  Moore,  Honour- 
able James  Duane,  Marinus  Willet,  and  John  Alsop,  Esquires. 

"  From  the  United  Parishes  of  Jamaica,  Newtown,  and  Flushing,  on  Long 
Island,  the  Rev  Mr.  Bloomer,  Mr.  Charles  Crommeline,  Mr.  Daniel  Kissam, 
Mr.   Joseph  Burrows,  Mr.  John  Johnson. 

"  From  Staten  Island,  the  Rev.   Mr.  Rowland,  and  Paul  Micheau,  Esquire. 

"From  New  Rochelle,  Mr.  Andrew  Fowler. 

"  From  Ulster  and  Orange  Counties,  Mr.  Joseph  Jarvis. 

"  From  Dutchess  County,  Mr.  John  Davis." 


70  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

Mr.  Provoost  presided  at  the  third  convention,  held  in  St. 
Paul's  Chapel,  September  20,  1786,  and  afterward  sailed  with 
the  Rev.  Mr.  White  for  England,  where  they  were  consecrated 
at  Lambeth  Palace,  February  4,  1787,  returning  to  New  York, 
and  landing  on  Easter  Sunday  following. 

Here  we  need  to  turn  for  a  moment  to  consider  briefly  the 
action  of  New  York  in  connection  with  the  Episcopate.  Of 
course  it  would  be  impossible  to  go  over  the  discussion  which 
had  taken  place  during  the  colonial  period  respecting  this  sub- 
ject, and  must  simply  say  that,  during  the  Revolution,  it  was 
believed  by  many  that,  though  the  war  must  eventually  cease, 
our  independence  would  never  be  recognized  by  Great  Brit- 
ain, and  that,  consequently,  it  would  be  impossible  to  obtain 
the  Episcopate  for  a  long  time  to  come.  Actuated  by  this 
belief,  the  Rev.  Mr.  White  proposed  a  plan  for  the  temporary 
organization  of  the  church,  in  a  pamphlet  entitled  "The  Case 
of  the  Episcopal  Churches  in  the  United  States  considered," 
published  in  Philadelphia  in  1782.  Immediately,  however, 
upon  the  acknowledgement  of  American  Independence,  the 
plan  was  abandoned,  and  he  proceeded  to  act  on  the  line 
agreeable  with  his  principles  and  feelings. 

March  25,  of  the  year  1783,  fourteen  Connecticut  Clergy- 
men met  secretly  at  Woodbury,  in  that  State,  and  elected  the 
Rev.  Jeremiah  Learning  their  candidate  for  the  Episcopate, 
with  the  Rev.  Samuel  Seabury  as  alternate.  Mr.  Learning 
declined  the  position,  which  Mr.  Seabury  accepted,  and  sailed 
for  England,  July  7,  nearly  four  months  before  the  Evacuation 
of  New  York.  On  the  very  day  of  the  election,  however,  and 
at  a  time  when  everybody  knew  that  the  plan  proposed  in 
the  "  Case  "  considered  had  been  abandoned,  Dr.  Jarvis  wrote 
to  Mr.  White  from  Woodbury,  condemning  the  pamphlet, 
but  making  no  allusion  to  the  election.  Mr.  White  replied  in 
his  gentle  manner,  explaining  that  the  Convention  labored 
under  a  misapprehension,  and  the  correspondence  ended, 
though  it  may  be  added  that  the  pamphlet  was  not  subjected 
to  criticism  by  the  authority  in  England.*    All   unconscious 

*  It  has  appeared  to  some  as  though  Bishop  White  persisted  in  his  plan,  and 
that  possibly,  he  published  a  second  edition  of  the  "Case  "  in  1783.     Bishop  Perry 


PROCEEDINGS  AT   ST.    THOMAS'   CHURCH.  7 1 

of  the  course  being  pursued  by  Seabury,  Mr.  White  now 
took  measures  with  reference  to  securing  the  Episcopate.  In 
his  pamphlet  he  had  advocated  the  joint  action  of  the  clergy 
and  laity  in  the  Church  Councils,  and  on  May  24,  1784,  at 
Philadelphia,  a  movement  was  begun  with  reference  to  obtain- 
ing the  Episcopate  in  accordance  with  this  principle.  The 
Philadelphia  movement  was  openly  undertaken  and  sixteen 
parishes  were  represented.  The  committee  were  empowered 
to  "  confer  with  representatives  from  the  Episcopal  Church  in 
other  States,"  it  being  a  subject  which  concerned  all  the  peo- 
ple, and  therefore  not  to  be  undertaken  secretly  by  any  clique 
or  party.  The  deliberations  of  this  convention  were  made  a 
matter  of  record,  and  the  committee  appointed  sent  out  a 
circular  letter.     A  copy  of  this  letter  is  herewith  appended.* 

in  his  edition,  seems  to  have  given  support  to  this  view,  by  reprinting  what  some 
readers  at  least  take  to  be  the  original  edition,  the  style  of  the  title  page  of  the  origi- 
nal edition  being  followed,  but  bearing  the  date  of  t 783  instead  of  1782.  The  origi- 
nal work  was  printed  by  David  Claypoole,  being  reprinted  by  William  Stavely,  of 
Philadelphia,  in  1827,  and  again  in  1869,  from  1224  Chestnut  Street,  of  the  same 
city,  with  the  title,  "  Bishop  White  on  Episcopacy." 

*  The  copy  used  was  that  sent  to  King's  Chapel,  Boston,  which  then  had  not 
lapsed  to  Socinianism.  A  transcript  has  kindly  been  furnished  by  Dr.  James 
Freeman  Clarke,  who  holds  it  in  possession.  The  six  principles  embodied  are 
found  in  Bishop  White's  Memoirs,  3d  Ed.,  E.  P.  Dutton  &  Co.  1880.,  p.  92. 
We  give  the  paper  without  the  names  of  the  delegates  which  were  appended. 

At  a  meeting  of  Clergymen  and  Lay-Delegates  from  Sundry  Congregations 
of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  held  at  Christ- 
Church  in  Philadelphia,  on  Tuesday,  the  25th  day  of  May,  1784. 
The  Committee  appointed  to  propose  a  plan  on  which  the  Episcopal  Church  in 
this  State  may  consult  with  their  Brethren  of  the  same  Church  in  other  States 
concerning  the  preservation  of  their  Communion,  report,  That  they  think  it  expe- 
dient to  appoint  a  standing  Committee  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  this  State, 
consisting  of  Clergy  and  Laymen  ;  that  the  said  Committee  be  empowered  to 
correspond  and  confer  with  Representatives  from  the  Episcopal  Church  in  the 
other  States,  or  any  of  them,  and  assist  in  forming  an  ecclesiastical  Government ; 
that  a  constitution  of  ecclesiastical  Government  when  framed  be  reported  to  the 
several  Congregations  through  their  respective  Ministers,  Church-wardens  and 
Vestry-men,  to  be  binding  on  all  the  Congregation  consenting  to  it,  as  soon  as 
a  Majority  of  the  Congregation  shall  have  consented;  that  a  Majority  of  the  Com- 
mittee, or  any  less  number  by  them  appointed,  be  a  Quorum  ;  that  they  be 
desired  to  keep  minutes  of  their  proceedings  ;  and  that  they  be  bound  by  the 
following  instructions  or  fundamental  principles  : 


J2  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

September  8,  at  Boston,  principles  of  a  similar  character 
were  adopted,  though  it  was  provided  that  the  vote  of  the 
Clergy  should  not  exceed  that  of  the  Laity.  May  13  and  14, 
however,  prior  to  the  dates  of  the  Philadelphia  and  Boston 
meetings,  a  number  of  the  Clergy  met  at  New  Brunswick  to 
take  action  respecting  the  Society  for  the  Relief  of  Widows 
and  Orphans  of  the  Church  of  England.  The  occasion  was 
utilized,  especially  as  influential  Laymen  were  at  hand,  to 
discuss  the  principles  upon  which  the  union  of  the  Church 
should  be  effected,  the  Philadelphia  Clergy  suggesting  their 
plan.  Mr.  Moore,  of  New  York,  who,  with  Mr.  Inglis,  had 
signed  the  papers  recommending  Mr.  Seabury,  now  became 
embarrassed,  finding  himself  apparently  face  to  face  with 
the  suspicion  that  the  course  of  concealment  which  had  been 

First.  That  the  Episcopal  Church  in  those  States  is  and  ought  to  be  indepen- 
dent of  all  foreign  authority,  ecclesiastical  or  civil. 

Secondly.  That  it  hath,  and  ought  to  have  in  common  with  all  other  Religious 
Societies,  full  and  exclusive  Powers  to  regulate  the  concerns  of  its  own  Com- 
munion. 

Thirdly.  That  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel  be  maintained  as  now  professed  by 
the  Church  of  England,  and  uniformity  of  worship  be  continued,  as  near  as  may 
be  to  the  Liturgy  of  the  said  Church. 

Fourthly.  That  the  succession  of  the  Ministry  be  agreeable  to  the  Usage  which 
requireth  the  three  orders  of  Bishops,  Priests  and  Deacons,  that  the  rights  and 
powers  of  the  same  be  respectively  maintained,  and  that  they  be  exercised  accord- 
ing to  reasonable  laws,  to  be  duly  made. 

Fifthly.  That  to  make  Canons  or  Laws  there  be  no  other  authority  than 
that  of  a  representative  body  of  the  Clergy  and  Laity  conjointly. 

Sixthly.  That  no  powers  be  delegated  to  a  general  ecclesiastical  government 
except  such  as  cannot  be  conveniently  exercised  by  the  Clergy  and  Vestry  in  their 
respective  congregations. 

The  above  report,  having  been  considered  by  paragraphs,  was  adopted,  and 
the  Committee  chosen  in  consequence  thereof  are  as  follows  : 
Rev.  Dr.  White,  Dr.  Gerardus  Clarkson, 

Rev.  Dr.  Magaw,  Dr.  Robert  Sharon, 

Rev.  Robert  Blackwell,  Mr.  John  Chaloner, 

Rev.  Joseph  Hutchins,  Hon.  James  Read,  Esq., 

Matthew  Clarkson,  Esq.,  Richard  Willing,  Esq., 

Plunket  Fleeson,  Esq.,  Mr.  Benjamin  Johnson. 

The  above  is  a  true  extract  from  the  minutes  of  the  said  meeting. 

W.  White,         [Autograph.] 
Chairman. 


PROCEEDINGS   AT  ST.   THOMAS'   CHURCH.  73 

practiced  was  neither  dignified  nor  just.  Recognizing  the  sit- 
uation, the  next  morning  Mr.  Moore  took  Mr.  White  "  aside  " 
and  confessed  the  truth,  at  the  same  time  begging  that  "  noth- 
ing should  be  urged  further  on  the  subject,  as  they  found 
themselves  peculiarly  circumstanced."  The  writer  adds:  "This 
brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Clergy  from  Philadelphia 
what  they  had  not  before  known,  that  Dr.  Samuel  Seabury, 
of  the  State  of  New  York,  who  had  sailed  for  England  just 
before  the  evacuation  of  New  York  by  the  British  troops,  car- 
ried with  him  a  petition  to  the  English  Bishops  for  consecra- 
tion." 

Bishop  White  put  the  matter  on  record  in  his  quiet  way, 
but  made  no  remark,  though  we  can  readily  understand 
what  his  feelings  must  have  been.  More  than  a  year  had 
passed  since  Connecticut,  of  her  own  motion,  had  taken 
action  so  secretly  respecting  the  Episcopate,  while,  on  the  day 
of  the  selection  of  the  two  candidates,  he  had  been  addressed 
by  the  Secretary  of  the  Convention,  yet  not  a  syllable  had 
been  communicated  to  him  with  respect  to  a  proceeding  con- 
cerning which  it  would  certainly  have  been  "prudent"  to  con- 
sult one  who  occupied  so  prominent  a  position,  especially  as 
the  subject  concerned  the  whole  Church.  The  request  of  Mr. 
Moore,  however,  was  acceded  to,  for  the  purpose  of  giving  him 
time  to  escape  from  his  entanglement,  and  action  was  sus- 
pended.* But,  as  we  have  seen,  the  subject  of  the  Episcopate 
was  resumed  at  New  York,  Inglis  having  left  the  country  un- 

*  It  was  insinuated  that  it  would  be  unsafe  to  allow  the  action  to  become  known, 
and  Jarvis  was  deputed  to  visit  New  York  and  consult  with  such  of  the  clergy  as 
he  thought  "prudent."  Mr.  White  belonged  to  the  patriot  party  and  was  offen- 
sive to  Inglis  and  Seabury,  the  former  being  an  unrelenting  Tory.  When  Inglis 
left,  New  York  was  free  to  turn  to  her  natural  allies,  though  not  recognizing  Sea- 
bury's  consecration  until  1789.  Bishop  White  indeed  recognized  the  fact  that 
South  Carolina  was  not  prepared  to  receive  the  Episcopate,  and  ecclesiastical  sus- 
picions rankled  in  the  Connecticut  mind.  Bishop  Williams,  in  treating  the  sub- 
ject of  the  secrecy  of  the  action  in  Connecticut,  repudiates  the  notion  that  the 
mission  of  Seabury  was  kept  secret  on  account  of  supposed  opposition  of  the 
Laity,  and  attributes  the  action  to  fear  of  possible  action  on  the  part  of  Congre- 
gationalists  and  Presbyterians.  But  William  White  at  least  might  have  been 
trusted,  being  neither  Congregationalist  nor  Presbyterian. — Church  Review, 
October,  1885,  pp.  307-309. 


74  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

reconciled,  and  indeed  having  no  rights  as  a  citizen  under  the 
Act  of  Attainder.  Mr.  Moore,  by  joining  in  the  proceedings 
and  serving  as  secretary,  the  following  October,  took  the  right 
method  of  extricating  himself  from  a  false  position  ;  all  of 
which  was  done  before  Seabury  received  consecration.  We 
can  readily  understand,  perhaps,  why  Dr.  Provoost  regarded 
Bishop  Seabury  with  so  much  asperity,  since,  in  addition  to 
ecclesiastical  difference,  they  represented  opposite  political 
poles  ;  while  we  see  that  there  is  no  truth  in  the  notion,  that, 
but  for  Seabury,  Mr.  White  might  not  have  taken  the  course 
which  he  actually  pursued,  as  he  acted  in  entire  ignorance  of 
what  the  Seabury  party  had  been  doing. 

After  this  New  York  did  not  waver,  nor  pay  any  further 
attention  to  Seabury,  until  the  organization  of  the  Church  had 
been  accomplished.  On  the  contrary,  New  York  proceeded 
to  co-operate  with  the  brethren  "  to  the  southward  "  in  secur- 
ing a  triple  succession  from  Canterbury,  which  manifestly  was 
the  wise  course  to  pursue,  since  a  failure  to  connect  our- 
selves organically  with  the  Church  of  England  would  have  left 
us  in  a  most  unfortunate  position.  The  position  might  have 
been  the  more  unfortunate,  for  the  reason  that  Bishop  Sea- 
bury made  a  compact  with  the  Scotch  church,  known  as  the 
"  Concordate  "  ;  in  which  it  was  stipulated  that  those  whom 
he  represented  should  take  "  care  when  in  Scotland  not  to 
hold  Communion  in  Sacred  Offices  with  those  persons,  who 
under  pretence  of  ordination  by  an  English  or  Irish  Bishop, 
do,  or  shall  take  upon  them  to  officiate  as  clergymen  in  any 
part  of  the  National  Church  of  Scotland,  and  whom  the  Scot- 
tish Bishops  cannot  help  looking  upon  as  schismatical  in- 
truders," etc. 

At  the  end  of  a  hundred  years,  this  provision  appears  very 
impractical,  yet  we  detect  the  design  of  the  canny  Scot,  eager 
to  secure  an  ally  in  America  ;  for,  whatever  may  have  been 
the  grievances  of  the  Scotch  Church,  and  however  great  our 
sympathy  for  them  in  their  misfortune  and  distress,  the  ten- 
dency of  any  such  provision  was  mischievous ;  while  it  is  also 
a  notable  fact  that  when  the  Scot  saw  that  nothing  was  to 
be  gained  by  the  Concordate,  and  that  the  American  Church 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   ST.   THOMAS'    CHURCH.  75 

had  formed  an  alliance  with  Canterbury,  the  manifestations 
of  interest  disappeared. 

New  York,  in  common  with  the  Middle  States,  fully  rec- 
ognized the  position,  and  saw  what  was  to  be  done ;  yet 
there  was  no  unhealthy  haste,  neither  was  any  one  discour- 
aged by  the  apparent  failure  of  the  first  application  to  the 
English  Primate.  Indeed,  may  we  not  consider  it  fortunate 
that  the  first  application  was  unsuccessful,  and  that  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  waited  until  all  technicalities  had  been 
cleared  away,  and  he  could  proceed  with  unanimous  approval  ? 
If  he  had  been  swift  to  assent,  his  act  might  have  been  fol- 
lowed by  a  century  of  regret  in  connection  with  the  truth  that 
haste  is  not  always  speed. 

These  remarks  are  not  offered  for  the  purpose  of  cheapen- 
ing the  estimate  of  the  work  done  in  Connecticut,  whose 
clergy  exhibited  rare  courage  and  heroic  endurance.  To 
them  we  owe  much.  At  one  period  White  and  Seabury 
stood  on  either  side  of  our  mother,  the  Church,  like  Aaron 
and  Hur  holding  up  the  hands  of  Moses  ;  yet  it  must  be  con- 
fessed that  it  would  have  proved  an  awkward  thing  if  all  the 
upholding  had  been  done  by  the  first  Bishop  of  Connecticut, 
especially  if  our  general  policy  had  been  shaped  in  accordance 
with  that  inimical  provision  of  the  "  Concordate,"  which 
would  have  put  us  into  a  position  of  antagonism  to  the  Eng- 
lish Church. 

The  movements  represented  by  these  two  men  were  ani- 
mated by  different  schools  of  thought,  and  proceeded  on  some- 
what divergent  lines.  The  one  school  was  wanting  in  appre- 
ciation of  the  value  of  lay  co-operation,  and  at  the  same  time, 
being  piqued  by  the  issue  of  events,  was  in  danger  of  becoming 
involved  in  the  contentions  of  foreign  ecclesiastical  bodies  by 
the  terms  of  a  written  compact;  the  other  accepted  the  prin- 
ciple underlying  the  joint  action  of  the  Clergy  and  Laity  in 
Church  Councils,  and  stood  untrammelled,  being  ready  to  hold 
out  the  hand  of  fellowship  to  all  the  world.  New  York  cast 
in  her  lot  with  those  who  best  represented  the  genius  of 
American  Churchmen,  and  united  with  the  sagacious  White 
in  carrying  out  his  plan.     When  the  desired   result  was  ac- 


j6  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

complished,  this  diocese  properly  joined  in  the  recognition 
of  Seabury,  and  exhibited  a  true  appreciation  of  his  work. 
Let  us  therefore  rejoice  that,  in  the  Providence  of  God,  two 
such  men  as  White  and  Seabury,  while  in  some  respects  so 
unlike,  at  least  proved  to  be  substantially  of  one  mind,  and 
able  to  labor  together  for  a  common  end.*  We  turn  here, 
however,  to  resume  the  thread  of  the  narrative. 

Sunday,  July  15, 1787,  was  a  marked  day  in  the  calendar  of 
New  York,  for  on  that  day  took  place  the  first  apostolic 
ordination  to  the  sacred  ministry  ever  performed  in  the  city 
of  New  York,  or  within  the  territory  which  is  now  included 
in  the  Diocese  of  New  York.  Mr.  Richard  C.  Moore  and  Mr. 
Joseph  G.  J.  Bend  were  ordained  Deacons  by  the  Rt.  Rev. 
Samuel    Provoost,    the    first    Bishop    of    New    York,  f     In 

*  In  leaving  this  subject  we  may  point  out  what  seems  to  have  been  one  re- 
sult of  the  "  Concordate."  In  a  sermon,  by  the  Rev.  William  J.  Seabury,  D.D., 
preached  in  the  Church  of  the  Annunciation,  New  York  City,  December  14,  1884, 
and  reprinted  from  The  Church  Eclectic,  1885,  the  author,  after  speaking  of  the 
uneasiness  felt  by  the  English  Bishops  respecting  the  consecration  of  Seabury, 
as  "  partly  due  "  to  the  doubt  which  they  had  or  "  affected  "  to  have,  he  says,  with 
reference  to  the  first  Bishop  of  Connecticut,  "  that  he  was  not  only  not  received  by 
them  as  a  Bishop  when  he  passed  through  England  on  his  return  home,  but  he 
was  even  addressed  in  a  formal  communication  from  the  Society  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel,  of  which  the  bishops  were  the  chief  members,  not  by  his  title 
as  Bishop,  but  by  his  academic  title  of  Doctor."  Yet  how  could  he  ask  for  recog- 
nition, or  expect  it,  after  having  put  himself  and  the  Church  of  Connecticut  in  a 
hostile  attitude,  both  by  receiving  consecration  and  by  signing  the  Concordate  ? 
We  can  easily  understand,  however,  that  the  English  Bishops  were  moved  by 
something  more  than  a  doubt,  real  or  affected,  with  respect  to  the  "  proper  juris- 
diction "  of  Bishop  Seabury's  consecration.  The  latter  had  put  himself  in  a  posi- 
tion to  repudiate  both  the  English  and  Irish  in  Scotland  ;  and  thus,  as  Professor 
Seabury  states,  the  Bishop  of  Connecticut  was  not  recognized  by  the  American 
Bishops  until  the  usual  number  of  three  was  secured.  "  Then,"  continues  Professor 
Seabury,  "  in  1792,  the  three  Bishops  of  English  consecration  did  condescend  to 
permit  the  Bishop  of  Scotch  consecration  to  join  with  them  (supposing,  I  presume, 
that  it  could  then  do  no  harm)  in  the  consecration  of  Dr.  Claggett  of  Maryland." 
Bishop  White  says  with  reference  to  the  recognition  of  Bishop  Seabury  on  this 
occasion:  "  The  question  had  changed  its  ground  by  the  repeal  of  the  laws  agains 
the  Scotch  Bishops  ;  and  by  their  reception  in  their  proper  characters  in  England." 
Thus  Bishop  Seabury  was  not  employed  in  this  vital  connection  until  after  the 
Concordate  was  practically  annulled,  and  then  only  as  an  extra  canonical  party. 

f  "  On  Sunday  last,  in   St.   George's  Chapel,  in   this  city,   Mr.   Richard  C. 
Moore  and   Mr.   Joseph  G.  J.  Bend  were  ordained   Deacons  of  the   Episcopal 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   ST.   THOMAS'    CHURCH.  JJ 

November  when  the  third  annual  convention  was  held  in  1787 
and  met  in  St.  Paul's  chapel,  where  the  Bishop  expressed  his 
satisfaction  "  on  account  of  the  increasing  state  of  the  Church." 
Further,  he  had  ordained  "  several  persons,"  and  had  lately- 
visited  several  churches  on  Long  Island. 

In  the  journal  of  the  fourth  convention,  1788,  we  find  the 
following  entries : 

"  Resolved,  that  it  is  highly  necessary,  in  opinion  of  this 
Convention,  that  measures  should  be  pursued  to  preserve  the 
Episcopal  succession  in  the  English  line,  and 

"Resolved also,  That  the  union  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America,  is  of  great  impor- 
tance and  much  to  be  desired  :  and  that  the  Delegates  of  this 
State,  in  the  next  General  Convention,  be  instructed  to  pro- 
mote that  union  by  every  prudent  measure,  consistent  with 
the  Constitution  of  the  Church,  and  the  continuance  of  the 
Episcopal  succession  in  the  English  line." 

This  action  is  explained  by  Bishop  White,  in  the  Memoirs, 
where  it  is  stated,  in  connection  with  the  movement  in  favor 
of  the  consecration  of  the  Rev.  Edward  Bass,  of  Massachu- 
setts, that  the  former  laid  the  application  before  the  conven- 
tion, though  expressing  his  doubt  with  regard  to  the  proposed 
consecration  "  being  consistent  with  the  faith  impliedly 
pledged  to  the  English  prelates  [not]  to  proceed  to  any  con- 
secration, without  first  obtaining  from  them  the  number  held 
in  their  Church  to  be  canonically  necessary  to  such  an  act." 

Church,  by  the  Right  Rev.  Samuel  Provoost,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  said  Church  in 
this  State.  These  gentlemen,  according  to  the  usuages  of  the  Church,  are  ordained 
Deacons,  with  special  permission  to  preach  ;  and  it  is  requisite  that  they  should 
continue  Deacons  for  some  time,  previous  to  their  admission  to  the  order  of  Priest- 
hood. The  Chapel  was  unusually  crowded,  the  ceremonies  of  Episcopal  ordina- 
tion being  novel  in  America.  The  solemnity  of  the  occasion,  the  great  good  con- 
duct which  was  observed  through  every  part  of  it,  and  an  excellent  sermon, 
delivered  by  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Moore  with  an  admired  diction  and  eloquence 
peculiar  to  him,  made  a  pleasing  impression  upon  the  audience.  We  cannot  on 
this  occasion,  but  with  pleasure  reflect  that  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  in 
these  States,  is  now  perfectly  organized  and  in  full  enjoyment  of  each  spiritual 
privilege  (in  common  with  other  denominations)  requisite  to  its  preservation  and 
prosperity." — N.  Y.  Daily  Advertiser,  July  17,  1787.  Bishop  Seabury  ordained 
John  Lowe,  of  Virginia,  at  Hempstead,  Long  Island,  Nov.  3,  1785.  See  New 
York  Packet,  Nov.  10,  1785. 


78  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

Bishop  Seabury's  consecration,  however,  was  deemed  valid, 
and  convention  was  willing  that  the  Bishop  of  Connecticut 
should  unite  with  White  and  Provoost  in  consecrating  Mr. 
Bass  ;  but  that  step  was  rendered  unnecessary  by  the  election 
of  Dr.  Madison,  of  Virginia,  and  his  consecration  September 
19,  1790,  at  Lambeth,  thus  giving  the  triple  English  succes- 
sion. The  subject  of  Mr.  Bass'  consecration  was  therefore 
dropped,  and  his  elevation  did  not  take  place  until  1797, 
when  he  received  the  full  English  succession. 

In  1790,  measures  were  taken  to  secure  the  incorporation 
of  the  Church  in  the  State  of  New  York,  and  in  1792,  the  re- 
building of  Trinity  Church  was  accomplished. 

In  1794,  there  were  in  attendance  at  the  Annual  Conven- 
tion fourteen  clergymen,  and  lay  delegates  from  twenty-two 
parishes.  The  next  year  no  convention  was  held,  while  in 
1796  only  twelve  clergymen  and  sixteen  parishes  responded. 
At  this  period  age  and  infirmities  were  telling  upon  the 
bishop,  and  in  1801  he  resigned,  having  previously  relin- 
quished the  rectorship  of  Trinity  Parish.  He  was  succeeded 
in  both  positions  by  Dr.  Benjamin  Moore,  who,  in  December, 
1800,  was  elected  Rector  of  Trinity  church,  and  Bishop  of 
New  York,  September  5,  1801. 

So  far  as  the  journals  indicate,  the  improvement  of  the 
Church  under  his  administration  was  not  rapid.  In  1805  only 
thirteen  clergymen  appeared  in  convention,  with  delegates 
from  fourteen  parishes.  The  bishop's  failing  strength  indeed 
soon  rendered  the  election  of  an  Assistant  necessary,  and 
Dr.  John  Henry  Hobart  was  consecrated  May  29,  181 1. 
Bishop  Moore  lived  until  1816,  passing  the  third  decade  of 
the  diocese.  Uniting  a  fine  culture  with  a  sound  Christian 
character,  he  also  exhibited  a  mind  for  work,  and  he  under- 
took the  visitation  of  the  diocese  with  zeal  and  alacrity ;  but 
the  task  was  a  severe  one,  and,  wanting  the  physical  energy 
of  his  earlier  years,  comparatively  little  was  accomplished. 
It  is,  therefore,  under  God,  to  Bishop  Hobart,  that  we  owe 
the  presence  in  convention,  in  1815,  of  thirty-six  clergymen 
entitled  to  votes,  with  eight  having  seats  by  courtesy,  to- 
gether with  lay  delegates  from  thirty-six  parishes. 


PROCEEDINGS  AT   ST.  THOMAS'    CHURCH.  79 

Another  decade  of  his  administration  ended  with  a  list 
of  sixty-eight  clergy  and  lay  delegates  from  fifty-three  parishes, 
every  one  realizing  that  a  man  of  genuine  power  was  at  the 
head  of  affairs.  In  the  middle  of  the  next  decade,  however, 
he  ceased  from  his  labors,  departing  to  his  reward  September 
12,  1830. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  here  what  kind  of  a  man 
Bishop  Hobart  was.  Besides,  it  would  not  be  possible  to  de- 
scribe him  in  a  paragraph.  It  must  suffice  to  observe  that  he 
was  Catholic  in  his  principles  and  temper  ;  broad  and  deep  in 
his  convictions— having  the  courage  of  them  ;  strong  in  intel- 
lect, yet  simple  in  life  and  manner ;  impetuous  and  devout.  He 
was  no  cold,  mercenary  calculator,  priding  himself  in  that  he 
never  made  a  mistake.  His  biographer  says  that  the  language 
of  Coleridge  was  often  his :  "  Give  me  a  little  zealous  impru- 
dence," while  there  was  so  much  method  and  persistence  in 
his  imprudence,  that  it  told  powerfully  upon  the  Church,  mak- 
ing his  name,  as  well  as  that  of  the  Diocese  of  New  York,  a 
tower  of  strength.  There  is  something  grand  and  inspiring 
in  the  memory  of  this  man,  but  we  must  not  be  beguiled  by 
the  interest  of  the  subject ;  and  therefore  let  us  simply  add 
the  record  of  his  early  translation,  which  took  place  amidst 
universal  sorrow,  his  body  being  too  frail  to  retain  the  im- 
passioned soul.     He  died  on  the  field  a  true  soldier  of  Christ. 

The  Rt.  Rev.  Benjamin  Tredwell  Onderdonk  followed  in 
the  Episcopate,  being  consecrated  November  26,  1830.  At 
the  time  of  his  predecessor's  decease  the  clergy  list  numbered 
one  hundred  and  twenty-seven,  with  an  actual  attendance 
of  ninety-four. 

The  next  decade  fell  upon  1835,  when  the  convention  met 
at  Utica,  the  clergy  numbering  one  hundred  and  ninety-eight, 
with  sixty-three  parishes  represented,  the  attendance  of  lay 
delegates  being  small.  At  this  convention  a  Committee  was 
appointed  on  the  division  of  the  diocese,  which  was  suggest- 
ed by  Bishop  Onderdonk  at  the  convention  of  1834.  It  was 
accomplished  in  1838,  causing  warm  and  prolonged  discussion, 
and  leading  to  the  publication  of  various   pamphlets.*     In 

*  Bishop  Onderdonk  referred  to  the  division  in  his  address  of  1835,  when  the 


80  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

this  discussion,  which  took  place  at  Utica,  in  1838,  Dr.  Hawks 
bore  a  prominent  part,  making  a  speech  an  hour  long.* 

In  1845,  at  the  convention  in  New  York,  one  hundred  and 
forty  clergy  were  entitled  to  seats,  while  forty-five  additional 
names  were  on  the  roll.  The  total  number  of  churches  and 
chapels  was  one  hundred  and  seventy-four,  of  which  one  hun- 
dred and  forty-six  were  represented  by  the  laity. 

The  admirfistration  of  Bishop  Onderdonk,  in  the  main, 
proved  able  and  successful,  but  it  had  ended  January  3,  pre- 
vious, under  a  cloud.  During  his  supervision,  the  Diocese 
of  Western  New  York  was  created  out  of  New  York,  and,  No- 
vember 1,  1838,  he  presided  at  the  Primary  Convention,  held 
at  Geneva,  when  forty-eight  clergy  assembled  with  delegates 
from  forty  parishes,  f     After  his  retirement  an  interregnum 

Secretary  of  the  General  Convention  sent  notice  of  the  proposed  change  in  the 
Constitution  of  the  Church  respecting  the  division  of  a  diocese.  A  committee 
was  appointed  on  the  subject,  which  was  unable  to  report  the  next  year  and  was 
discharged.  In  1837  the  division  was  decided  upon,  and  the  next  year  an  attempt 
was  made  to  rescind  the  action.  At  an  adjourned  meeting  held  in  New  York  the 
October  following,  the  arrangements  were  completed.  At  the  Primary  Con- 
vention of  the  Diocese  of  Western  New  York,  Bishop  Onderdonk  presiding, 
and  held  at  Geneva,  November,  1838,  the  Rev.  Wdliam  Heathcote  DeLancey, 
D.D.,  of  Philadelphia,  was  elected  Bishop,  Dr.  Whitehouse  and  the  Rev. 
Manton  Eastburn  being  among  the  candidates.  Among  the  pamphlets  pro- 
duced in  this  connection  the  following  are  in  the  collection  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Eigenbrodt : 

1.  An  Address  to  the  Clergy  and  Laity  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
residing  in  the  western  part  of  the  State  of  New  York  respecting  the  proposed 
changes  in  the  Episcopal  Supervision  of  that  Diocese,  April,  1835. 

2.  A  Pamphlet  and  Broadside  by  V.  Matthew,  J.  C.  Spencer,  &  F.  Whitlesey, 
the  former  addressed  to  "  The  persons  belonging  to  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  Western  New  York,  who  united  in  the  petition  to  their  Diocesan  for 
a  special  Convention  of  the  Diocese." 

3.  A  letter  from  the  Rev.  Professor  Whittingham,  of  the  General  Theological 
Seminary  to  a  Clergyman  of  Western  New  York,  in  relation  to  the  Division  of 
the  Diocese  of  New  York,  June,  1838. 

4.  The  present  State  of  the  Question,  in  regard  to  the  Division  of  the  Diocese 
of  New  York  ;   with  a  summary  of  reasons  therefore,  July,  1838. 

5.  A  letter  to  the  Editor  of  the  Gospel  Messenger,  on  the  division  of  the  Diocese 
of  New  York,  by  a  Missionary,  1838. 

*  See  report  of  the  debate  in  The  Churchman,  September  30,  1838. 
f  Bishop  DeLancey,  took  charge  of  the  diocese  May  9,  1839.     In  1868  the 
Diocese  of  Central  New  York  was  created  out  of  Western  New  York,  the  Rev. 


PROCEEDINGS  AT   ST.   THOMAS'S   CHURCH.  8l 

followed,  and  no  election  took  place  until  September  2,  1851, 
when  the  Rev.  William  Creighton,  D.D.,  was  elected  Provis- 
ional Bishop.  He  declined  the  trust.  The  next  year  the  Rev. 
Jonathan  Mayhew  Wainwright,  D.D.,  was  elected,  being  con- 
secrated November  10,  1852.  In  the  meanwhile  Episcopal 
functions  were  exercised  by  Bishops  McCoskry,  DeLancey, 
Ives,  Alonzo  Potter,  Doane,  Whittingham,  and  Chase. 

Bishop  Wainwright  proved  an  able  and  successful  admin- 
istrator, and  the  Church  continued  to  advance,  but  his  career 
was  brief,  and  he  died  September  21,  1854,  in  the  midst  of 
years  and  usefulness.  *  During  his  administration  the  color 
line  was  broken,  and  in  1853,  St.  Philip's  colored  church  of 
New  York  city,  was  admitted  into  union  with  the  convention 
by  an  overwhelming  majority.  The  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Horatio 
Potter,  the  present  venerable  and  beloved  bishop,  was  con- 
secrated as  the  successor  of  Bishop  Wainwright,  Novemb 
22,  1854,  and  the  next  year,  falling  on  the  seventh  decade  o 
the  diocese,  the  number  of  clergy  belonging  to  the  diocese 
was  three  hundred  and  four,  of  whom  two  hundred  and 
thirty-two  had  seats  in  the  convention.  One  hundred  and 
sixty  parishes  were  represented  by  lay  delegates. 

April  30,  i86i,bythe  death  of  Bishop  Onderdonk,  Bishop 
Potter  became  the  Bishop  of  New  York. 

In  the  meanwhile,  though  strong  discussions  were  com- 
mon respecting  principles  and  methods,  the  Church  continued 
to  thrive,  and  in  1865  there  were  three  hundred  and  ninety-five 
clergymen  on  the  roll,  two  hundred  and  fifty-eight  being  en- 
titled to  seats,  with  one  hundred  and  ninety-two  parishes. 
In  1868  the  entire  list  of  the  clergy  numbered  four  hundred 
and  forty-six,  of  which  number  two  hundred  and  ninety-five 
were  entitled  to  seats. 

The  year  previous,  the  convention  had  voted  to  create  two 
new  dioceses,  those  of  Albany  and  Long  Island,  but  the  sep- 

Frederic  D.  Huntington,  D.D.,  being  elected  bishop,  and  consecrated  February, 
2,  1869. 

*  The  church  edifice,  occupied  by  the  Parish  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  New 
York  City,  is  regarded  as  the  "Wainwright  Memorial,"  but  there  never  was  any 
parish  bearing  the  name. 
6 


82  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

aration  had  not  been  accomplished  at  the  time  when  the 
convention  met,  and  the  clergy  list  appears  full.  The  bishop 
gave  his  consent  to  the  division,  retaining  the  Diocese  of  New 
York  under  his  jurisdiction.  The  next  year,  1869,  showed  a 
reduction  of  the  clergy  list  to  two  hundred  and  ninety,  the 
number  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  being  entitled  to  seats.  * 

At  the  convention  in  1872,  Bishop  Potter,  in  his  annual 
address,  recommended  action  with  respect  to  founding  a  ca- 
thedral, when  a  committee  of  fifteen  was  appointed  to  take 
the  subject  into  consideration. 

He  also  presided  at  the  Primary  Convention  of  the  Dio- 
cese of  Long  Island,  November  18,  1868,  where  sixty-five 
clergy  entitled  to  seats  appeared,  the  whole  number  on  the 
roll  being  eighty-five.  No  less  than  fifty-five  parishes  were 
represented. 

Another  ten  years  of  the  administration  of  Bishop  Potter 
passed  away,  when  the  total  number  of  the  clergy  had  risen 
to  three  hundred  and  four,  of  whom  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
four  were  entitled  to  seats.  Of  parishes  having  a  right  to 
representation,  there  were  one  hundred  and  fourteen.  These 
figures  appear  extremely  favorable  when  compared  with  the 
strength  of  the  diocese  at  the  time  Long  Island  and  Albany 
were  set  off.  Soon  after  some  action  was  taken  with  refer- 
ence to  a  federation  of  the  five  dioceses,  in  accordance  with 
the  canon  of  the  General  Convention,  but  the  project  was 
abandoned,  and  has  since  lain  dormant. 

October  20,  1883,  the  Rev.  Henry  Codman  Potter,  D.D., 
LL.D.,  was  consecrated  Assistant  Bishop  in  Grace  Church, 
New  York  city,  the  venerable  presiding  bishop,  the  Rt.  Rev. 
Benjamin  Bosworth  Smith,  Bishop  of  Kentucky,  acting  as 
consecrator. 

The  convention  of  1885  was  held  in  St.  Augustine's  Chapel, 
commencing  Wednesday,  September  30.  At  this  time  there 
were  three  hundred  and  thirty  clergy  connected  with  the 
diocese,  of  whom  two  hundred  and  seven  were  entitled  to 
seats,  while  one  hundred  and  seventy  were  actually  present. 

*  Bishop  Potter  presided  at  the  Primary  Convention  of  the  Diocese  of  Albany, 
Dec.  2,  1868. 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   ST.   THOMAS'    CHURCH.  83 

The  parishes  and  mission  chapels  numbered  one  hundred 
and  ninety-five,  one  hundred  and  fifty-four  being  in  union 
with  the  convention  and  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  repre- 
sented by  lay  delegates. 

The  following  is  a  summary  of  a  class  of  results  that  have 
grown  out  of  the  small  beginnings  of  1785,  when  the  Epis- 
copal supervision  included  the  entire  State  of  New  York: 
Bishops,  5  ;  Clergy,  (about)  769  ;  Churches  and  missions,  663  ; 
Candidates  for  Orders,  75  ;  Sunday  School  Teachers,  7,967  ; 
Scholars,  79,813.  The  Communicants  exceed  100,000,  about 
40,000  of  whom  are  in  the  Diocese  of  New  York. 

The  total  contributions  of  the  five  dioceses  for  various 
objects  demanding  support  amounted  the  year  past  to  about 
$2,390,599.77,  nearly  one-half  of  which  was  contributed  by 
the  Diocese  of  New  York. 

The  subject  has  now  been  treated  in  a  brief  and  somewhat 
fragmentary  way,  the  design  having  been  to  prepare  a  sketch 
and  not  a  history.  It  would  prove  a  source  of  satisfaction  to 
the  writer  to  delay  for  the  purpose  of  speaking  of  a  few  of  the 
important  movements  that  have  sprung  up,  and  to  mention 
some  of  the  institutions  of  learning  and  charitable  organiza- 
tions that  form  the  crown  and  glory  of  a  century  of  diocesan 
work;  but  these  topics,  whatever  may  be  their  interest  and 
importance,  must  be  passed  by  now.  It  is  gratifying,  however, 
to  know  that  they  are  in  safe  hands ;  for  they  are  watched 
over  with  unremitting  care  by  him  who  so  recently,  and  by 
the  unanimous  voice  of  this  great  diocese,  was  called  to  take 
up  the  heavy  burden  which  the  failing  strength  of  the  ven- 
erable Senior  Bishop  obliged  him  to  lay  down,  and  whose 
successful  administration,  if  a  tithe  of  the  good  wishes  of  our 
people,  nay,  of  the  entire  Christian  community,  are  fulfilled, 
will  take  a  high  place  in  the  forefront  of  the  incoming  cen- 
tury, and  form  the  inspiring  theme  of  him  whose  glad  task 
will  be  to  tell  the  story  of  our  second  hundred  years. 


UK^T,  /feCi*>£%r^> 


84  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 


APPENDIX. 

A  COPY  OF  A  CIRCULAR  LETTER  TO  THE  CLERGY  OF 
NEW  YORK  AND  NEW  JERSEY. 

New  York,  April  2nd,  1739. 
Reveiend  Sr 

In  obedience  to  the  comands  I  have  Received  from  the  Right  Reverend 
Father  in  God  Edward  Lord  Bishop  of  London  and  the  orders  of  the  Honoura- 
ble Society,  I  Doe  appoint  a  meeting  of  the  Clergy  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey 
at  Trinity  Church  in  this  city,  on  the  second  day  of  May  next  ensuing  ;  and  I 
Desire  you  there  pursuant  to  the  Orders  you  have  Received  from  the  Society  to 
deliver  to  me  your  parochial  accounts,  And  the  state  of  your  Income,  to  be  trans- 
mitted to  my  Lord  of  London  and  by  his  Lordship's  hand  to  that  Venerable  Body 
as  they  directed. 

I  am  Sr 
Your  affectionate  Brother  and  Humble  Servant, 

Will:  Vesey  Com. 
Atchivesof  the  Society  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel, 
New  England,  &c.  1738-9,  No.  103. 

New  York,  June  4th  1739. 
Revd  Sr 

Inclosed  you'l  Receive  a  copy  of  my  circular  Letter  to  the  Revd  Clergy  of  New 
York  &  New  Jersey  Desiring  them  to  meet  at  Trinity  Church  In  the  City  of  New 
York,  on  the  second  day  of  May  Last.  They  all  accordingly  met  Excepting  only 
such  as  were  prevented  by  sickness  and  other  accidents  ;  And  they  have  delivered 
to  me  the  state  of  their  Income  and  Parochial  accounts  which  by  this  conveyance 
I  have  transmitted  to  you  to  be  layd  before  the  Honourable  Society,  who  by 
this  means  will  have  a  View  of  the  condition  of  the  Church  and  Clergy  in  these 
provinces.  If  in  any  affair  I  can  be  serviceable  to  that  Venerable  Body  no  per- 
son will  be  more  ready  to  do  it  than 

Sr 

Your  Very  Humble  Servant 

Will:  Vesey. 

P.  S. — I  presume  Mr.  Harrison  and  Mr.  Miln  will  get  their  accounts  Ready  to 
be  Sent  by  the  Next  Ship. 

New  England  &c.  1738-9  pp.  101. 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   ST.   THOMAS'    CHURCH. 


85 


PROVINCES  OF  NEW  YORK  AND  NEW  JERSEY, 
ANNO  DOMINI  1738. 

Neiv  York. 

Missionary's  Income  from  their  Congregations  for  the  Year  1738. 


The  Reverend  Mr. 
Charlton,  the 
Society's  cate- 
chist  for  the  city 
of  New  York. . . 

Mr.  Standerd. . . . 


Mr.  Colgan. 
Mr.  Jenney. 


Mr.  Stoupe. . . . 
Mr.  Whitmore. 


Mr.  Barclay 
Mr.  Browne 


Mr.  Vaughan  . 
Mr.  Skinner. . 
Mr.  Campbell 

Mr.  Pierson  . . 
Mr.  Nichol. . . 
Mr.  Harrison . 


Income  by  Subscription. 


West  Chester 

Perquisites  by  estimation. 
Jamaica,  Long  Island. . . . 
Perquisites  by  estimation. 


Hempstead,  Long  Island 

A  glebe  of  172  acres  of  upland  and 
25  of  meadow  land. 

Perquisites  by  estimation 

New  Rochel 

Perquisites  by  estimation 

Rye 


Perquisites  by  estimation 

Albany 

Perquisites  by  estimation 

Brookhaven  

Perquisites  by  estimation 

New  Jersey,  1738. 

Elizabeth  Town   

Perquisites  by  estimation 

Amboy 

Perquisites  by  estimation 

Burlington 

And  from  another  place 

Perquisites  per  estimation 

Salem 

Perquisites  per  estimation 

Monmouth  County.  Perquisites 
per  estimation 

Staten  Island.  Perquisites  per 
estimation.  A  parsonage  house 
and  glebe  of  60  acres  and  a  con- 
siderable plantation  left  by  will 
of  Elias  Danbury. 


Paper  and 
Currency. 

£  s.  d. 
82  10 


Equal  Ster- 
ling moneys. 


to 


£  s.  d. 

5 


Settled  salary. 
52  50  31   5 

Salary  settled  by  a  fund  of 

the  Province. 
60  36     7     3 

3  1  17 


Salary 

60 

17 
13     2 

settled  by  law  of  the 
Province. 

36     7     3 
10     6 
6                  S 

Settled 
50 

5 
37 

2  16 

salary. 

30 

3 

22 

I 

6 

0     7 

8     5 

15  10 

16     2 
2 

9 
1 

15     1 

4     3 

10  10 

6 

10 

6 
0     0 

3 

13  3 
0    0 

1  16 

1 

9     0 

10     0 

10    0 

12 

2     5 

15     5 

5     3 

9 

3 

5  0 
2     6 

Settled  salary. 
40    o    o  24    4    3 


86  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

Reverend  Sr.  : 

The  above  accounts  were  delivered  to  me  by  my  Reverend  Brethren  the 
Clergy,  in  order  to  be  transmitted  to  the  Venerable  Society  by  Sr. 

Your  very  Humble  Servant, 

Will:  Vesey. 

To  the  Reverend  Doctor  David  Humphreys,  Secretary  to  the  Honorable 

Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  London. 
[New  England,  &c,  1738-9   p.  105.] 

[The  interesting  sketch  of  the  Early  History  of  the  Colo- 
nial Church  in  New  York  has  been  kindly  contributed  to  this 
volume  by  Dr.  De  Costa,  at  the  request  of  the  Publication 
Committee,  as  an  Introduction  to  the  foregoing  valuable  His- 
torical Address.  The  two  contributions  cover  the  entire 
history  of  the  Church  in  the  Colony  and  Diocese  of  New 
York.] 


PROCEEDINGS  AT   ST.    THOMAS'   CHURCH.  87 


THE   CHURCH    AND    STATE   IN    NEW  YORK    DURING   THE   CO- 
LONIAL  PERIOD. 

Standing  upon  some  headland  of  the  Atlantic  coast  dur- 
ing a  calm  day  when  no  movement  is  perceptible  in  the  air,  the 
loiterer  is  nevertheless  conscious  of  the  fact  that  movements 
are  taking  place  in  the  sea.  No  breeze  ruffles  the  shining 
expanse,  but  anon  there  comes  a  long,  swelling  winrow  of 
brine,  rolling  silently  landward,  until  it  falls  with  a  crash 
upon  the  sandy  shore.  Whence  the  mysterious  wave  on  this 
calm  day?  It  is  the  result  of  an  unreported  cyclone  that 
smote  some  remote  sea.  Similar  movements  take  place  in 
modern  society,  and  we  are  not  without  some  experience  of 
them  in  what  anciently  formed  the  Province  of  New  York. 
Occasionally  the  wave  from  a  distant  storm  centre,  two  hun- 
dred years  away,  breaks  suddenly  against  the  walls  of  a  vene- 
rable church  or  institution  of  learning.  The  surges  assume 
a  variety  of  shapes,  social,  political,  and  ecclesiastical,  but 
whenever  and  wherever  they  strike,  the  impact  is  the  product 
of  some  old  agitation,  the  significance  of  which  few 
understand.  The  Colonial  days  formed  a  stormy  period. 
Let  us,  therefore,  make  some  examination  of  the  times 
during  which  the  English  laid  the  foundations  of  Church  and 
State,  especially  since  various  writers  have  represented  that 
both  Church  and  State  were  founded  by  injustice  and  usur- 
pation. 

I.  Thus  far  hardly  more  than  a  single  historian  really 
worthy  of  the  name  has  essayed  to  write  the  history  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  and  the  work  of  this  writer,  as  we  must 
all  regret,  ends  with  the  year  1691.  Mr.  Brodhead  writes 
with  unquestioned  ability,  bringing  to  his  task  a  full  and 
critical  knowledge  of  the  authorities  employed,  and  yet  his 
exaggerated  estimate  of  the  Dutch,  notwithstanding  his  de- 
sire to  be  fair,  repeatedly  renders  him  insensible  to  plain  con- 
siderations. Besides,  since  his  first  volume  appeared,  histor- 
ical geography  had  made  rapid  advancement,  and  is  now 
shedding  fresh  light  upon  old  subjects. 


88  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

There  is  a  general  understanding  that  New  York  was 
settled  by  the  Dutch,  but  the  first  colonists,  those  of  1623, 
were  chiefly  French  Huguenots,  while  Germans  and  Jews 
mingled  with  the  later  Dutch.  In  162 1  there  was  a  distinct 
movement  set  en  foot  for  an  exclusively  French  colony  in 
this  neighborhood,  based  on  the  feudal  principle.  The  leaders 
desired  special  authority  to  style  themselves  "  nobles,"  but 
the  plan  miscarried,  and  the  Huguenots,  called  Walloons,  came 
two  years  later,  under  the  Dutch.  In  1656  the  French  ele- 
ment was  so  important  that  public  documents  were  drawn  up 
in  the  French  tongue.  It  has  been  estimated  that,  in  1685, 
the  French  constituted  about  one-fourth  of  the  population. 
In  1552,  French  religious  worship  had  become  prominent, 
and  in  1682  that  French  Church  was  founded  which  survives 
in  our  day.  This  mixed  population  maintained  a  mild  type 
of  the  Reformed  religion,  and  it  was  not  until  a  later  time 
that  New  York  became  inoculated  with  that  hostile  political 
ecclesiasticism  against  which  the  Church  of  England  was 
obliged  to  strive. 

If  called  to  say  what  nation  was  entitled  to  the  territory 
of  New  York  by  right  of  discovery,  we  might  be  obliged  to 
award  the  claim  to  the  French,  who  were  conducted  thither 
by  Verrazano  in  1524.  Verrazano  wrote  the  first  description 
of  the  Bay  of  New  York,  his  letter  being  addressed  to  Fran- 
cis I.  Prior  to  this  time  Pope  Alexander,  by  a  decree,  had 
given  away  all  America  to  Spain,  but  that  was  trifling  with 
the  subject  ;  while  we  are  told  that  the  Dutch  were  entitled 
to  the  country  by  reason  of  occupation  based  upon  the  voy- 
age of  Henry  Hudson  in  1609,  and  some  explorations  three 
or  four  years  later.  This  is  trifling  with  the  subject,  too; 
since  Henry  Hudson  was  only  one  of  a  long  line  of  naviga- 
tors who  followed  Verrazano.  A  Spanish  expedition  suc- 
ceeded the  French  within  one  or  two  years,  naming  the  Hud- 
son River  "  Rio  Antonio,"  probably  in  memory  of  St.  An- 
thony, whose  day  falls  upon  June  13. 

Besides  it  is  now  known  that  the  French  were  actually 
living  here  in  161 3,  when  a  child  was  born.  Yet  Mr.  Brod- 
head,  writing  of  this  particular  period,  says  that,  after  Verra- 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   ST.   THOMAS'   CHURCH.  89 

zano,  no  European  vessels,  except  those  of  the  Dutch,  had 
yet  visited  the  region  around  Manhattan.  His  statement  is 
distinctly  disproved  by  a  legend  found  on  the  Dutch  Figura- 
tive Map,  presented  to  the  States  General  in  1614,  which  de- 
clares that  the  French  ascended  in  their  shallops  as  far  as  the 
present  site  of  Albany,  to  trade  with  the  Indians.  Mr.  Brod- 
head  praised  the  map,  but  he  does  not  seem  to  have  discov- 
ered the  legend.  In  this  connection  we  may  refer  to  a  bit  of 
hitherto  unnoticed  testimony  found  in  Champlain,  who  was 
in  Canada  in  161 5,  and  was  told  of  the  Flemings  trading  on 
the  fortieth  degree,  three  of  whom  were  captured  by  his  allies 
and  released  on  the  supposition  that  they,  being  of  the  same 
language,  were  the  friends  of  the  French  in  Canada.  Many 
evidences  exist  proving  the  knowledge  of  this  region  pos- 
sessed by  the  English,  who  did  not  plant  their  colony  in  Vir- 
ginia in  1584  without  any  examination  of  the  country  on 
the  border  of  which  they  sat  down.  The  coast  was  often  run 
by  the  English  prior  to  the  settlements  of  Raleigh.  In  1583, 
Christopher  Carlisle  drew  up  proposals  for  a  colony  in  this 
neighborhood,  and  his  reasons  therefor  show  an  intimate  knowl- 
edge of  the  country  and  the  nature  of  the  voyage  required. 

Three  years  before  the  voyage  of  Henry  Hudson,  who 
was  an  Englishman,  half  his  crew  also  being  English,*  this  re- 
gion was  doubly  covered  by  patents  issued  by  King  James  to 
the  North  and  South  Virginia  companies,  who  in  1607  com- 
menced colonization  in  both  New  England  and  Virginia. 
The  whole  country  was  pre-empted,  as  the  Dutch  very  well 
knew,  having  been  claimed,  too,  at  an  early  period  by  the 
English  on  the  ground  of  Cabot's  voyage.  In  New  England 
the  English  were  active  and  repelled  French  intruders.  On 
the  Hudson,  in  1613,  they  boldly  asserted  their  supremacy. 
Plantaganet,  who  was  followed  by  other  writers,  stated  in 
1648,  that  Argall,  from  Virginia,  found  some  Dutch  traders 
at  the  Hudson  in  1613,  and  received  their  submission.  This  is 
repeated  in  a  manuscript  of  about  1663,  now  preserved  in  the 

*  The  voyage  of  Hudson  was  used  by  the  English  to  support  their  own  claim. 
On  his  return  voyage,  Hudson  entered  an  English  port,  where  his  ship  was  de- 
tained for  several  months  on  account  of  his  intrusion. 


90  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

British  State  Paper  Office,  which  speaks  of  the  Dutch  at  Man- 
hattan as  having  made  an  engagement  with  "  Sir  Samuel 
Argall  that  they  would  come  thether  noe  more." 

In  1620  the  Englishman,  Captain  Dermer,  found  the 
Dutch  trading  here,  and  told  them  that  they  were  violating 
English  rights,  when  they  professed  ignorance.  At  this  very 
time  the  Leyden  Pilgrims  were  preparing  to  sail  for  the  Hud- 
son, whither  they  would  have  come,  but  for  a  storm  which 
drove  them  into  Massachusetts  Bay,  where  they  settled  at 
Plymouth.  The  next  year  the  English  Ambassador  at  the 
Hague  brought  the  Dutch  intrusion  to  the  notice  of  the 
States  General.  That  body  replied  that  they  had  heard  of 
"no  such  thing,"  and  that  "it  was  without  their  authority." 
They  also  said  that  they  knew  of  no  colony  there  "  planted  " 
or  "  intended."  It  was  a  private  venture.  In  1623,  however, 
the  Dutch  West  India  Company  was  completed,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  operating  against  Spain,  and  under  this  company  a 
colony,  composed  chiefly  of  French  Huguenots,  called  "  Wal- 
loons," came  over.  Wassanaar  says  that  the  ship  New 
Netherland  arrived  in  the  beginning  of  May,  1623,  "with 
thirty  families  Walloons."  Yet  the  same  season  the  English 
knew  what  the  Dutch  authorities  were  doing,  and  a  plan  was 
arranged  to  dispossess  them.  What  was  actually  done  we 
cannot  say,  as  the  ship  arrived  in  Virginia  late  in  the  year. 
This  incident  is  drawn  from  an  unpublished  letter  written  off 
the  Isle  of  Wight,  on  board  the  Bonnie  Bess,  May  4,  1623. 
The  writer  says :  "  We  are  by  commission  from  the  Lord  of 
Southhampton,  Governor  of  the  Company,  and  other  learned 
counsel,  and  divers  great  Lords,  to  discover  the  very  top  and 
head  of  that  river  [the  Hudson],  and  if  we  there  find  any 
strangers,  as  Hollanders  or  others,  which  is  thought  this  year 
adventure  there,  we  are  to  give  them  fight  and  spoil,  and  sink 
them  down  into  the  sea,  which  to  do  we  are  well  provided 
with  a  lusty  ship,  stout  seamen,  and  great  ordnance."* 

In  the  course  of  a  controversy  on  the  subject  of  Dutch 
rights,  the  Governor  of  New  Netherland,  October  6,  1659,  said 

*From  the  Duke  of  Manchester's  Kimbolton  MSS. 


PROCEEDINGS  AT   ST.   THOMAS     CHURCH.  91 

that  "the  King  of  Spain  .  .  .  did  renounce  and  give  over 
unto  the  united  Republic  of  the  Seven  Provinces  aforesaid 
all  his  right  and  title  in  such  countries  and  dominions  as  they 
have  in  process  of  time  conquered  and  settled  in  Europe, 
America  and  elsewhere,  wherefore  the  above  said  Province  of 
New  Netherland  .  .  .  became,  in  this  regard,  the  true, 
proper  inheritance  of  the  Dutch  nation."  *  The  same  year 
he  declared,  we  "take  our  origin  as  vassals  and  subjects 
from  the  King  of  Spain,  then  the  first  finder  and  founder 
of  all  America."t  A  few  days  later  the  governor  made 
another  statement,  saying,  "  The  King  of  Spain  was  at  the 
time  of  the  discovery  of  America  our  King,  and  we  were 
as  much  his  vassals  and  subjects  as  they  [the  English  in 
Maryland]  were  the  subjects  of  their  King  or  Republic  of 
England,  but  afterwards,  when  we  were  obliged  to  take  up 
arms,  and  achieved  our  liberty,  the  King  of  Spain  conveyed 
over  and  to  us,  in  full  propriety,  by  lawful  right  and  title,  all 
his  own  and  other  conquered  lands  in  Europe  and  America.":}: 
Again  in  1660  the  Directors  of  the  West  India  Company  made 
the  same  claim.  §    Mr.  Brodhead  ignores  this  transaction. 

An  attempt  has  also  been  made  to  bolster  up  the  Dutch 
claim,  on  the  ground  of  purchase.  In  this  connection  the 
historian  of  New  York  is  quite  eloquent.  Mr.  Brodhead  says  : 
"This  event,  one  of  the  most  interesting  in  our  Colonial 
annals,  as  well  deserves  commemoration,  as  the  famous  treaty, 
immortalized  by  painters,  poets,  and  historians,  which  William 
Penn  concluded,  fifty-six  years  afterwards,  under  the  great 
elm  tree  with  the  Indians  at  Shackamaxon."  This  compar- 
ison, however,  is  doubly  unfortunate,  since  the  researches,  by 
some  of  the  Pennsylvania  antiquaries,  men  jealous  of  all  that 
regards  Pennsylvania's  fame,  completely  fail  to  prove  that 
the  treaty  between  Penn  and  the  Indians  ever  took  place. 
It  has  been  said  that  the  comparison  was  doubly  unfortunate, 
and  for  the  reason  that  the  Penn  treaty  has  always  been 
described  as  a  genuine  treaty,  while  the  purchase  of  this  isl- 
and, according  to  the  Dutch,  formed  a  sharp  bargain.     Hence 

*N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  II.,  80.       \Ibid.,  91.       \Ibid.,  93.       %Ibid.l  139. 
I  Hi story  of  New  York,  I.,  164. 


92  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

neither  painter  nor  poet  has  troubled  himself  to  adorn 
the  transaction,  which  a  Dutchman  here  at  the  time  disposes 
of  in  a  laconic  fashion,  under  date  of  November  7,  1676,  say- 
ing, "  They  have  bought  the  Island  Manhattes  from  the 
Indians  for  the  value  of  sixty  guilders,"  about  the  price  of  a 
puncheon  of  gin,  in  which  commodity  it  was  probably  paid. 
When  Heckwelder,  the  Moravian  missionary,  came  here,  he 
heard  the  lament  of  the  Indians  over  this  transaction.  They 
gave  its  history  in  a  distorted  form,  yet  we  recognize  the  main 
truth  in  their  account,  which  says,  that  the  "  great  man,"  as 
they  call  the  governor,  wanted  only  enough  land  to  raise  greens 
for  his  group,  but  on  the  land  allowed  them  for  a  garden  they 
planted  great  guns  and  "  afterwards  they  built  strong 
houses  and  made  themselves  masters  of  the  island."* 

Another  Indian  lament  comes  from  a  different  source. 
Turning  over  some  manuscripts  in  the  British  Museum  in  the 
summer  of  1885,  the  writer  came  upon  a  petition  sent  to  the 
British  Government  by  one  Kohhewenaaunant,  who  says 
that  the  ancestors  of  his  tribe,  then  living  on  the  Housatonic, 
from  "  time  immemorial  lived  on  the  River  called  Hudson 
River,  and  were  the  original  and  true  owners  of  the  lands  lying 
on  said  River,  and  when  the  white  people  first  made  settle- 
ments on  said  River  they  found  the  tribe  aforesaid  the  sole 
possessors  of  said  lands."  The  petitioner,  continuing,  says: 
"  The  white  people  taking  the  advantage  of  the  ignorance 
of  us  Indians,  and  taking  away  from  us  Indians  what  they 
never  purchased,  your  petitioners  have  lost  all  foothold  on 
said  Hudson's  River.  "  f  Thus  at  the  end  of  nearly  a  hun- 
dred and  forty  years,  the  memory  of  transactions,  which  the 
eulogist  of  the  Dutch  thought  so  worthy  of  the  attention 
of  poets  and  painters,  rankled  in  the  Red  Man's  breast.  Here 
we  get  a  glimpse  of  the  foundation  of  the  Dutch  claims 
urged  in  opposition  to  those  of  the  Church.  But  we  must 
leave  this  part  of  the  subject,  and  hasten  to  notice  what 
followed.     In   1632,  eight  years   after   the    seizure    of  Man- 

* Penn.  Coll.,  Vol.  XII.,  p.  77. 

f  Add.  Mss.  22679,  p.  4.  The  particular  lands  contended  for  lay  on  the  upper 
Hudson. 


PROCEEDINGS  AT  ST.   THOMAS'   CHURCH.  93 

hattan,  a  Dutch  ship  which  came  over  was  held  on  her  re- 
turn in  the  port  of  Plymouth,  England.  The  Dutch  also  failed 
to  make  any  claim  to  jurisdiction  in  opposition  to  England 
based  on  occupation,  and  it  was  left  for  one  in  our  day  to 
claim  the  country  for  them  on  the  ground  of  discovery  and 
actual  possession.  Nevertheless,  though  without  any  valid 
claim,  the  Dutch  continued  to  hold  the  country,  the  English 
being  absorbed  in  struggles  which  prevented  the  Crown 
from  giving  due  attention  to  its  rights.  The  Dutch,  however, 
as  the  years  rolled  on,  felt  a  growing  sense  of  insecurity,  and 
understood  that  the  day  of  reckoning  must  come.  Realizing, 
therefore,  the  absurdity  of  their  position,  the  representatives 
of  the  West  India  Company  through  their  agent  here,  main- 
tained that  Holland  derived  her  claim  to  America  from  Spain. 
The  foolishness  of  this  position  was  not  apparent  to  the  Eng- 
lish then  living  on  the  Delaware,  but  elsewhere  it  was  perfectly 
understood  ;  and  in  1663,  the  convenient  time  having  arrived, 
the  English  Government  sent  out  Commissioners,  who  quietly 
took  possession  in  the  name  of  the  Crown,  and  received  the 
Dutch  obedience,  changing  the  name  of  New  Amsterdam  to 
that  of  New  York. 

So  far  as  technicalities  went,  the  English  were  entitled  to 
the  soil,  but  morally  also  England  had  the  superior  right,  and 
was  charged  with  a  superior  obligation,  possessing  as  she  did  the 
evident  ability  to  insure  to  the  people  a  greater  degree  of  happi- 
ness and  prosperity  than  could  be  guaranteed  by  any  other 
nation  ;  while  politically,  whatever  may  have  been  the  prior- 
ity of  the  Dutch,  it  would  have  been  a  simple  impossibility 
for  New  Netherland  to  exist,  dividing,  as  that  jurisdiction 
did,  the  Northern  American  Colonies  from  those  in  the  South. 
On  every  principle  New  Netherland  must  at  last  have  been 
ground  between  the  upper  and  nether  millstone.  Partisan  wri- 
ters have  wrangled  over  the  subject,  while  the  sentimental 
essayist  has  dropped  his  tear,  but  the  fact  remains  that  the 
English  brought  a  better  and  more  reasonable  government, 
and  a  superior  type  of  civilization.  It  hardly  needs  to  be 
added  that  they  brought  a  superior  type  of  Christianity. 
In  time  the   Dutch  themselves  appreciated  the  advantages 


94  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

enjoyed,  having  retained  all  civil  and  ecclesiastical  rights. 
Indeed,  the  day  after  the  surrender  of  the  Dutch,  "  the 
Court  of  Burgomasters  and  Shepens  assembled  to  transact 
their  usual  business,  proceeding  to  administer  Justice  as 
though  nothing  had  happened."  At  this  point  we  turn  from 
the  State  to  consider  the  position  of  the  Church. 

II.  It  has  been  stated  that  the  first  English  residents  of 
New  York  were  those  Connecticut  men  brought  here  in  1635, 
after  their  capture  on  the  Delaware.  It  would  nevertheless, 
perhaps,  prove  a  difficult  task  to  trace  the  growth  of  the  Eng- 
lish population.  At  the  time  of  the  occupation  it  must  have 
been  small,  though  it  was  increased  by  the  arrival  of  those 
who  naturally  followed  in  the  train  of  the  Royal  Commis- 
sioners. The  first  governor  was  Nicolls,  one  of  the  Com- 
missioners. 

In  1664  a  code  of  laws,  known  as  the  Duke's  Laws,  was 
given  to  the  people  at  Hempstead,  Long  Island,  and  the 
Protestant  religions  were  all  put  upon  a  common  footing, 
nothing  being  said  about  Common  Prayer.*      In  1668  Nicolls 

*  For  the  understanding  of  this  period  it  is  very  important  that  we  should 
study  the  Duke's  Laws,  which  were  settled  at  Hempstead,  L.  I.,  March  I,  1664. 
It  is  stipulated  as  follows  : 

1.  That  in  each  Parish  within  this  Government  a  Church  be  built  in  the  most 
Convenient  part  thereof,  Capable  to  receive  and  accommodate  two  Hundred 
Persons. 

2.  That  For  the  making  and  proportioning  the  Levies  and  Assessments  for 
building  and  repairing  the  Churches,  Provisions  for  the  poor,  maintenance  for  the 
Minister;  as  well  as  for  the  more  orderly  managing  of  all  Parochiall  affairs  in 
other  Cases  exprest,  Eight  of  the  most  able  men  of  Each  Parish  be  by  the  Major 
part  of  the  House  holders  of  the  said  Parish  Chosen  to  be  Overseers  out  of  which 
Number  the  Constable  and  the  aforesaid  Eight  Overseers  shall  yearly  make  Choice 
of  two  of  the  said  number,  to  be  Church  Wardens  and  in  case  of  the  Death 
of  any  of  the  said  Overseers  and  Church  Wardens  ;  or  his  or  their  departure  out  of 
the  parish,  the  said  Constable  and  Overseers  shall  make  Choice  of  another  to 
Supply  his  Room. 

3.  Every  Overseer  is  to  take  the  Oath  of  Allegiance  at  the  time  of  his  Admit- 
tance into  his  office  in  the  Presence  of  the  Minister,  Overseer  and  Constable  of 
the  parish,  besides  the  Oath  of  his  office. 

4.  To  prevent  Scandalous  and  Ignorant  pretenders  to  the  Ministry  from  in- 
truding themselves  as  Teachers ;  No  Minister  shall  be  admitted  to  Officiate, 
within  the  Government  but  such  as  shall  produce  Testimonials  to  the  Governore, 
that  he  hath  Received  Ordination  either  from  some  Protestant  Bishop,  or  Minister 


PROCEEDINGS  AT   ST.   THOMAS'    CHURCH.  95 

was  succeeded  by  Francis  Lovelace,  whose  instructions  were 
similar  to  those  of  his  predecessor.  He  brought  the  Duke  of 
York's  approval  of  the  Laws,  and  in  a  letter  to  the  Home 
Government  he  described  himself  as  "being  in  a  middle  posi- 
tion of  the  two  distinct  factions — the  Papist  and  the  Puritane." 
During  the  war  with  Holland,  in  1673,  the  city  passed 
back  into  the  hands  of  the  Dutch,  but  with  the  return  of  peace 
the  English  recovered  the  territory,  and  Edmund  Andros 
came  over  with  instruction  from  the  Duke  of  York,  who  had 

within  some  part  of  his  Majesties  Dominions  or  the  Dominions  of  any  foreign 
Prince  of  the  Reformed  Religion,  upon  which  Testimony  the  Governour  shall  in- 
duce the  said  Minister  into  the  parish  that  shall  make  presentation  of  him,  as 
duely  Elected  by  the  Major  part  of  the  Inhabitants  house  holders. 

5.  That  the  Minister  of  every  Parish  shall  Preach  constantly  every  Sunday, 
and  shall  also  pray  for  the  Kinge,  Queene,  Duke  of  Yorke,  and  the  Royall 
family.  And  every  person  affronting  or  disturbing  any  Congregation  on  the 
Lord's  Day  and  on  such  publique  days  of  fast  and  Thanksgiving  as  are  Appointed 
to  be  observed,  After  the  presentment  thereof  by  the  Church  wardens  to  the 
Sessions  and  due  Conviction  thereof  he  shall  be  punished  by  fine  or  Imprison- 
ment according  to  the  merritt  and  Nature  of  the  offence,  And  every  Minister  shall 
also  Publiquely  Administer  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  once  every  Year 
at  least  in  his  Parish  Church  not  denying  the  private  benefit  thereof  to  Persons 
that  for  want  of  health  shall  require  the  same  in  their  houses,  under  the  penalty 
of  Loss  of  preferrment  unless  the  minister  be  restrained  in  point  of  Conscience. 

6.  No  Minister  shall  refuse  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism  to  the  children  of 
Christian  parents  when  they  shall  be  tendered  under  penalty  of  loss  of  preferr- 
ment. 

10.  That  no  Congregation  shall  be  disturbed  in  their  private  meetings  in  time 
of  prayer  or  preaching  or  other  divine  Service  Nor  shall  any  person  be  molested 
fined  or  Imprisoned  for  differing  in  Judgement  in  matters  of  Religion  who  pro- 
fess Christianity. 

11.  No  Person  of  Scandalous  or  Vicious  Life  shall  be  Admitted  to  the  holy 
Sacrament  who  hath  not  given  Satisfaction  therein  to  the  Minister. 

CHURCH     WARDENS. 

That  Church  wardens  shall  twice  every  year  (viz.)  on  the  Second  day  of  the 
Sessions,  to  be  held  in  June  ;  and  on  the  Second  day  of  the  Sessions  to  be  held 
in  December,  In  open  Sessions  deliver  a  true  presentment  in  writing  of  all  such 
misdemeanours  as  by  their  knowledge  have  been  Comitted  and  not  punished 
whilst  they  have  been  Churchwardens.  Namely,  Swearing,  prophaness,  Sabbath 
breaking  Drunkenness,  fornication,  Adultery,  and  all  such  abominable  Sinnes." 
Under  "Charges  Publique"  it  was  ordered  that  "Every  Inhabitant  shall  Con- 
tribute to  all  Charges  both  in  Church  and  State,  whereof  he  doth  or  may  receive 
benefit  according  to  the  equal  proportion  of  his  Estate." — Col.  N.  Y.  Hist.  Soc, 
1809,  Vol.  I.,  p.  332. 


96  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

regained  his  former  position.  The  Duke  was  a  Roman 
Catholic,  disabled  by  the  Test  Act,  and  felt  wondrously  kind 
toward  those  who  suffered  like  himself;  therefore  he  gave 
religious  liberty  to  "all  persons,"  instead  of  "  all  Christians." 
Dongan,  the  next  governor,  arrived  in  1683.  He  was  a 
Roman  Catholic,  and  a  liberal  and  enlightened  man,  who  de- 
serves a  high  place  in  our  estimation.  His  services  to  New 
York  have  been  recognized.  In  1686  the  Duke  of  York,  now 
in  the  second  year  of  his  reign  as  King  James,  sent  out  new 
and  full  instructions  respecting  the  Church.  The  Roman 
Catholic  King  straightly  commanded  his  Roman  Catholic 
Governor  to  maintain  "  Common  Prayer  "  and  the  "  Blessed 
Sacrament"  according  to  the  Church  of  England.* 

*"  You  shall  take  especial  care  that  God  Almighty  bee  devoutly  and  duly- 
served  throughout  yor  government :  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  as  it  is  now  es- 
tablisht,  read  each  Sunday  and  Holy  day,  and  the  Blessed  Sacrament  adminis- 
tered according  to  the  Rites  of  the  Church  of  England.  You  shall  be  careful  that 
the  Churches  already  built  there  shall  bee  well  and  orderly  kept  and  more  built 
as  ye  Colony  shall,  by  God's  blessing,  bee  improved.  And  that  besides  a  compe- 
tent maintenance  to  bee  assigned  to  ye  Minister  of  each  Church,  a  convenient 
House  bee  built  at  the  Comon  charge  for  each  minister,  and  a  competent  Propor- 
tion of  Land  assigned  him  for  a  Glebe  and  exercise  of  his  Industry. 

"  And  you  shall  take  care  that  the  Parishes  bee  so  limited  &  settled  as  you 
shall  find  most  convenient  for  ye  accomplishing  this  good  work. 

"Our  will  and  pleasure  is  that  noe  minister  bee  preferred  by  you  to  any 
Ecclesiastical  Benefice  in  that  Our  Province,  without  a  Certificat  from  ye  most 
Reverend  the  Lord  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  of  his  being  conformable  to  ye  Doc- 
trine and  Disciplin  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  of  a  good  life  and  conversa- 
tion. 

"And  if  any  person  preferred  already  to  a  Benefice  shall  appear  to  you  to 
give  scandal  either  by  his  Doctrine  or  Manners,  you  are  to  use  the  best  means  for 
ye  removal  of  him,  and  Jto  supply  the  vacancy  in  such  manner  as  wee  have  di- 
rected. And  alsoe  our  pleasure  is  that,  in  the  direction  of  all  Church  Affairs  the 
Ministers  bee  admitted  into  the  respective  vestrys. 

"  And  to  the  end  the  Ecclesiastical  Jurisdiction  of  the  said  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury may  take  place  in  that  Our  Province  as  farr  as  conveniently  may  bee. 
Wee  doe  think  fitt  that  you  give  all  countenance  and  encouragement  in  ye  exer- 
cise of  the  same;  excepting  only  in  Collating  to  Benefices,  granting  licenses  for 
Marriage,  and  Probat  of  Wills,  which  wee  have  reserved  to  you  our  Gov1  &  to  ye 
Commander  in  cheif  for  the  time  being." 

"And  you  are  to  take  especial  care  that  a  Table  of  marriages  established  by 
ye  Canons  of  the  Church  of  England  bee  hung  up  in  all  Orthodox  Churches  and 
duly  observed." 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   ST.   THOMAS'    CHURCH.  97 

Dongan  never  allowed  his  personal  views  to  interfere  with 
his  official  duty.  He  recognized  the  fact  that  he  had  no  dis- 
cretion in  the  matter,  and  he  persisted,  though  complaining 
mournfully  at  last  that  he  found  it  hard  work  to  make  the 
average  Protestant  pay  the  preacher's  salary.  In  this  state 
of  affairs,  as  may  well  be  imagined,  it  was  not  easy  for  the 
Church  to  make  progress,  but  the  men  of  those  days  acted 
no  doubt  according  to  the  light  which  they  possessed.  To- 
day the  Church  asks  no  favors,  and  is  all  the  stronger  by 
relying  upon  her  own  resources. 

The  story  of  the  Colonial  period  is  everyway  remarkable. 
Never  before,  perhaps,  not  even  in  that  age  of  Hebrew  his- 
tory, when  the  conqueror  of  the  Jews  stood  forth  to  rebuild 
their  walls  and  the  temple,  was  religion  found  hampered  by 
such  curious  circumstances.  The  advocacy  of  the  Church  by 
Henry  VIII.  was  embarrassing,  but  the  zeal  of  acknowledged 
Roman  Catholics,  combined  later  with  the  unwilling  service 
of  a  New  York  Dissenting  Legislature,  was  simply  grotesque. 
In  those  days  men  were  sometimes  more  zealous  for  the  form 
of  godliness  than  for  its  power.  It  was  in  many  respects  a 
cruel  age,  an  age  in  which  they  consented  to  the  prose- 
cution of  small  offenders,  even  viewing  with  satisfaction 
the  execution  of  a  servant-girl  upon  the  gallows  in  New 
York  for  stealing  what  is  described  as  "  sundry  articles,"' 
the  poor  creature  dying,  as  the  newspaper  states,  in  great 
terror. 

In  1693  the  Ministry  Act  was  passed,  and   then  came  a 

"  And  you  are  to  take  care  that  Books  of  Homilys  &  Books  of  the  39  Articles 
of  ye  Church  of  England  bee  disposed  to  every  of  ye  said  Churches,  and  that  they 
bee  only  kept  and  used  therein." 

"  And  wee  doe  further  direct  that  noe  School-master  bee  henceforth  permitted 
to  come  from  England  &  keep  School  within  our  Province  of  New  York  with- 
out license  of  the  said  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  ;  And  that  noe  other  person  now 
there  or  that  shall  come  from  other  parts  bee  admitted  to  keep  school  without 
your  license  first  had.     .     .     ." 

"  You  shall  permit  all  persons  of  what  Religion  soever  quietly  to  inhabit  with- 
in yor  Government  without  giving  them  any  disturbance  or  disquiet  whatsoever, 
by  reason  of  their  differing  Opinions  in  matters  of  Religion,  provided  they  give  noe 
disturbance  to  ye  publick  peace,  nor  doe  molest  or  disquiet  others  in  ye  free  exer- 
cise of  their  Religion." — N.   Y.  Col.  Docs.,  III.,  372. 

7 


98  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

struggle  respecting  its  interpretation.  The  details  of  this 
episode  are  given  in  the  accompanying  paper  found  in  this 
volume.  The  case  is  a  clear  one,  even  though  the  handful 
of  Presbyterians  in  New  York  affected  to  belfeve  that  the 
Church  and  State  of  England  were  untrue  to  all  their  tra- 
ditions, and  devised  an  Act  for  the  establishment  of  Dissent. 
This  is  a  point  that  we  must  not  evade,  since  out  of  the  old 
controversy  come  those  periodic  assaults  upon  Church  in- 
stitutions to  which  allusion  was  made  at  the  beginning. 

In  1695,  Governor  Fletcher  told  the  New  York  Assembly, 
that  the  interpretation  of  the  Ministry  Act  was  a  matter  that 
belonged  to  the  Courts,  to  which,  however,  the  Presbyterians 
made  no  appeal.     The  Assembly  was  not  an  authority.     It 
was  a  creature    of  the   Crown,  and   not  a   true   republican 
representative   body.     The  part  performed   by  New  York  in 
developing  republican  institutions  was  small.      In  162 1,  Vir- 
ginia had  made  an  advance  that  New  York  did  not  reach  a 
hundred  years  later  ;  for  at  that  time,  while  the  Pilgrims  were 
starving  in  their  communal  huts  at  Plymouth,  free  represen- 
tative   government,    the    first    established    in   America,   was 
firmly  and  intelligently  planted  in  Virginia.     In  fact,  the  posi- 
tion of  New  York  with  respect  to  the  development  of  popu- 
lar rights,  has  been   misunderstood.     The  ancient  Presbyter- 
ian was  deceived  in   fancying  that  the  New  York  Assembly 
had  the  power  to   establish  Presbyterianism.     The  modern 
Churchman  is  deceived    if   he   supposes    that  it   established 
the  Church  of  England.     It  could   not  do  anything  except 
what  the  King,   through    its  agent,  the  governor,  allowed. 
So  far  as  the  Church  of  England  was  concerned,  the  business 
of  the  Assembly  was  simply  to  recognize  the  legal  status 
of  the  Church.     That  was  all  that  the  Act  accomplished  in 
1693.     Until  then  it  was  inexpedient  to  act,  but  when  the 
Duke  of  York  reached  the  throne  he  felt  the  responsibility, 
and  did  what  he  conceived  to  be  his  duty  to  the  Crown.     New 
York  was  at  that  time  nothing  but  a  province,  and  continued 
in  the  same  condition  down  to  the  period  of  the  Revolution, 
never  having  been  able  to  secure  a  charter,  and  remaining  in 
a  state  of  vassalage. 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   ST.   THOMAS     CHURCH.  99 

It  has  been  stated  in  a  recent  work,  Church  Law* 
that  "  the  legal  status "  of  the  churches  here  in  America, 
in  the  Colonial  days,  "  excepting  as  modified  in  some  of 
the  colonies  by  civil  enactment,  was  according  to  the  de- 
cisions of  the  English  courts  that  of  entire  independence." 
Granting  this,  for  the  sake  of  the  argument,  the  declaration 
would  not  affect  the  case  of  New  York,  as  the  civil  enact- 
ment endorsed  by  the  Crown  was  secured.  But  the  statement 
is  not  true  with  regard  to  the  old  English  colonies.  The  case 
quoted  in  support  of  the  view  is  the  modern  case  of  Long  vs. 
the  Bishop  of  Cape  Town,  the  language  of  the  Courts  being  as 
follows  :  "  The  Church  of  England  in  the  colonies  which  have 
an  established  legislature  and  no  Church  established  by  law, 
is  to  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  a  voluntary  association,  in 
the  same  situation  with  any  other  religious  body,  no  better 
but  no  worse."  On  this  it  is  to  be  remarked  that  it  is  a 
modern  decision,  respecting  the  colonies  now  existing,  the 
decision  growing  out  of  an  advanced  stage  of  the  British 
Constitution,  which  had  six  remarkable  periods  of  growth 
from  12 1 5  to  1 701,  while  ever  since  wonderful  progress  has 
been  going  on.  The  Cape  Town  decision  when  announced, 
filled  large  portions  of  the  Church  with  surprise,  it  not  having 
been  supposed  that  the  Constitution,  and  consequently  the 
interpretation  of  the  law,  had  made  such  an  advance. 

It  is  our  duty,  however,  not  simply  to  recognize  the  law 
as  it  is,  but  as  it  was.  Let  us,  therefore,  go  back  to  the  case 
as  it  stood  in  the  early  Colonial  days,  since  the  integrity  of  our 
present  position  may  be  somewhat  involved  in  the  justice  or 
the  injustice  of  the  action  of  the  past. 

In  1692,  when  Governor  Fletcher  bade  the  Assembly  pass 
an  Act  for  the  support  of  Divine  Worship,  he  planted  himself 
on  solid  ground,  declaring  that  the  Law  of  Magna  Charta 
provided  "  for  the  religion  of  the  Church  of  England."  This 
it  may  be  remembered  is  recognized  in  Article  II.  of  that 
instrument,  which  declares  that  "the  Church  of  England 
shall  be  free  and  have  her  rights  intact  and  her  liberties  unim- 

*  Andrews'   Church  Law,  New  York,  1883,  p.  2. 


100  '         CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

paired."  *  This  did  not  satisfy  the  Presbyterians  of  New 
York,  who,  in  1753,  in  a  publication  called  the  Independent 
Reflector,  attempted  to  set  Magna  Charta  aside,  by  the  fol- 
lowing paragraph.     The  writer  says : 

"  The  Common  Law  of  England,  properly  defined,  consists 
of  those  general  Laws  to  which  the  English  have  been  accus- 
tomed from  time  to  time,  whereof  there  is  no  memory  to  the 
contrary;  and  every  law  deriving  its  Validity  from  such  im- 
memorial Custom  must  be  carried  as  far  back  as  to  the  Reign 
of  Richard  I.,  whose  death  happened  on  the  6th  of  April, 
1 199.  But  the  present  Establishment  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land was  not  till  the  fifth  year  of  Queen  Ann.  And  hence  it 
is  apparent  that  the  Establishment  of  the  Church  of  England 
can  never  be  argued  from  the  Common  Law,  even  in  Eng- 
land ;  nor  could  any  part  of  it,  since  it  depends  not  for  its 
Validity  upon  Custom  immemorial." — Independent  Reflector, 

I753-  P-  177- 

The  author  of  this  extract  attempts  a  good  deal.     First, 

in  an  arbitrary  manner,  and  without  any  reason  that  a  legally 
constituted  mind  can  accept,  he  tells  us  that  the  law  deriving 
validity  from  custom,  must  go  back  to  Richard  I.,  1199,  or 
sixteen  years  before  Mag?ia  Charta,  which,  by  such  tactics, 
would  be  put  quite  out  of  the  field.  Now,  as  said,  is  not 
one  entitled  to  hold  that  fair-minded  men  must  agree  that 
this  attempt  is  arbitrary,  covering  a  position  assumed  with- 
out reason?  For  if  we  cannot  recognize  Magna  Charta, 
what  can  we  recognize?  No  doubt  some  may  remember 
that  when  the  charter  was  approved  there  were  those  high 
in  position  who  wondered  very  much  where  the  charter  came 
from.  Possibly  the  Presbyterians  of  1753  wondered,  too,  yet 
the  great  charter  existed,  substantially,  in  the  Constitutions 
of  Clarendon,  1166,  or  thirty-three  years  before  Richard 
I.,  as  required  by  the  Independent  Reflector ;  and  even  in 
the  Laws  of  Beauclerc,  Henry  I.,  1106,  ninety-three  years 
before  the  stipulated  time.  Henry  I.'s  charter  was  the 
first  written  charter,  and  out  of  this  and  that  of  Henry  II., 

*  "  Quod  Anglicana  ecclesia  libera  sit  et  habeat  jura  sua  integra  et  libertates 
suas  illesas." — Blackstone's  Great  Charter,  p.  28. 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   ST.    THOMAS     CHURCH.  IOI 

Magna  Cliarta  came.     Besides,  generations  before  the  time 
of  Henry  I.,  the  Church  of  England  was  a  part  of  the  un 
written  Constitution,  and  entered  into  the  Common  Law  of 
the  Land.     Blackstone  does  not  contravene  this. 

Next  we  have  the  statement  that  the  Church  of  England 
was  not  established  until  the  fifth  year  of  Queen  Anne.  But 
the  fact  is  that  the  Church  was  established  from  time  im- 
memorial, as  we  must  recognize.  In  1707  the  union  between 
England  and  Scotland  was  consummated,  continuing  until 
now.  The  Act  then  passed  was,  not  to  establish  the  Church  of 
England,  but  to  secure  the  Scotch  in  their  old  ecclesiastical 
status,  and  protect  the  then  existing  and  recognized  establish- 
ment of  the  Church  of  England,  which  all  along  had  been  as 
much  established  as  monarchy  itself.  It  secured  to  the  Church 
of  England  nothing  that  she  did  not  already  possess,  while  it 
left  the  colonies  just  where  they  stood  before.  This  argument 
from  the  Reflector  was  the  best  that  the  Presbyterians  could 
devise,  and  that,  too,  at  a  time  when  the  whole  subject  was 
fresh  and  the  memories  of  men  clear  ;  at  a  time,  in  fact,  when, 
if  ever,  the  enemy  of  the  Establishment  would  be  able  to  find 
something  to  say. 

The  Church  in  New  York  seems  to  have  been  a  part  of  the 
common  law,  though,  like  a  great  deal  of  common  law,  it  did 
not,  for  a  time,  gain  due  respect.  Chancellor  Kent  distinctly 
says,  that  "  English  statutes  passed  before  the  emigration  of 
our  ancestors  applicable  to  our  situation  and  in  amendment 
of  the  law,  constitute  a  part  of  the  common  law  of  the  country." 
(Com.  I.,  472).  Magna  Charta  was  confirmed  by  many  parlia- 
ments. Also  West  says,  in  Chalmers  Opinions  of  Eminent 
Laxvyers,  that  "  the  Common  Law  of  England  is  the  common 
law  of  the  plantations,  and  so  all  statutes  in  affirmance  of  the 
Common  Law  antecedent  to  the  settlement  of  a  colony,  un- 
less there  is  some  previous  act  to  the  contrary;  though  no 
statutes  made  since  those  settlements,  are  those  in  force  unless 
the  colonies  are  particularly  named."  Hoffman  refers  to  a 
similar  teaching  in  the  case  of  Bogardus  vs.  Trinity  Church. 
No  decision  is  found  that  overturns  the  position  of  Governor 
Fletcher,  that  Magna   Charta   provided  for  the  religion   of 


102  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

the  Church  of  England.  The  Church  by  common  and  statute 
law  was  projected  into  the  Colony  of  New  York  with  the 
State,  and  both  were  founded  in  accordance  with  recognized 
principles  of  justice  and  religion. 

During  the  half  century  following  the  Ministry  Act  there 
were  faint-hearted  Churchmen,  both  in  New  York  and  Eng- 
land, who  quailed  before  the  Presbyterian  outcry,  and  were 
half  inclined  to  yield  the  ground.     Quotations  from  the  writ- 
ings of  such  men  could  easily  be  made.     There  are  always 
those  who  in  a  crisis  are   ready  to  court  popularity  or  stay 
impending  hostilities  by  abandoning  the  cause.     They  are, 
however,  hardly  the  men  whom  we  are  now  called  to  admire. 
It  will  thus  appear  that  the  status  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land during  the  Colonial  period  was  misconceived  by  many 
in   the  early  times,  even  as  in  our  own  day.     The  real  sig- 
nificance of  the  Ministry  Act  has  not  been  appreciated  by  all 
Churchmen.    The  issue  involved  was  an  issue  that  the  action 
of  an  Assembly  composed    mainly  of  Dissenters  could  not 
materially  affect.     They  themselves  knew  it,  and,  therefore, 
without  seeming  to  strike  at  Magna  Charta,  really  sought,  by 
arbitrary  decisions  and  interpretations,  to  set  that  instrument 
aside.     Nor  was  it  a  question  of  numbers  ;  for  if  it  had  been 
a  question  of  numbers,  the  mere  handful  of  Presbyterians  ex- 
isting in  1693  would  have  had  no  advantage  over  Churchmen. 
Cadillac,  in  1692,  estimated  the  number  of  English  families 
in   New  York   at  forty.     Dongan's  report,  made  during  his 
administration,  shows  that  the  English  population  increased 
slowly.     Colonel  Heathcote,  who  did  not  appreciate  the  real 
position  of  the  Church,  said,  in  17 14,  that  there  were  forty 
Dissenters  to  one  Churchman  at  the  time  the  Ministry  Act 
was  passed.    But  there  were  probably  five  hundred  Dissenters 
to  one  Presbyterian,  that  denomination  having  no  organi- 
zation   in    New  York  at  the   time    Heathcote    wrote.     The 
question,    therefore,    was    a    legal    question    that    could    not 
be  decided   by  any  local  ballot.     Governor    Fletcher,  how- 
ever, held  a  clear  and  consistent  view  of  the  subject.     King 
Charles,  who  instructed  the  Commissioners,  understood   the 
situation  perfectly  as  it  was  related  to  the  colonies,  but  he 


PROCEEDINGS  AT   ST.   THOMAS    CHURCH.  I03 

saw  that  New  England  was  practically  in  a  state  of  rebellion, 
rendering  undesirable  any  attempt  to  force  the  Church  upon 
the  people,  while  he  recognized  the  fact  that  in  New  York 
there  was  at  that  particular  time  no  large  Church  of  Eng- 
land population.  Consequently  he  acted  a  wise  part,  by 
giving  the  Commissioners  the  advice  which  they  actually 
received.  The  Duke  of  York  recognized  the  same  state  of 
affairs,  and,  being  a  Romanist,  he  counselled  general  tolera- 
tion, under  which  policy,  he  fancied,  the  Protestants  might 
be  divided,  and,  ultimately,  conquered.  The  Duke  carried 
this  policy  as  far  as  deemed  prudent,  but  at  last,  to  secure 
his  position  in  the  State,  he  resolved  to  do  his  duty  by  the 
Church.  This  finally  led  to  the  passage  of  the  Ministry  Act, 
which  could  have  had  no  validity  or  value,  whatever  might 
have  been  the  local  strength  of  the  Church,  if  it  had  not 
been  based  upon  recognized  principles  of  Magna  Charta. 
The  Dissenting  Assembly  felt  very  bitter  when  contemplat- 
ing its  own  action  ;  and  so,  likewise,  did  King  John,  who, 
after  signing  the  great  charter,  returned  to  Windsor  from 
Runnymeade,  and  threw  himself  upon  the  ground,  rolling  in 
uncontrollable  rage,  and  snapping  like  a  madman  at  the  grass. 
But  neither  King  nor  Dissenter  had  any  remedy.  On  both 
sides  of  the  sea,  however  disowned  and  oppressed,  the  re- 
ligion of  the  Church  of  England  was  the  legitimate  Law  of 
the  Land. 


The  historian  of  this  evening,  said  Bishop  Potter,  has  told 
you,  dear  brethren,  of  the  organization  of  this  diocese.  The 
story  of  the  dioceses  which  have  sprung  from  the  bosom  of 
the  mother,  New  York,  is  to  be  told  by  other  lips.  It  is  cer- 
tainly a  chief  interest  in  these  services  that  we  are  honored 
with  the  presence  of  sons  who  are  also  fathers  in  the  Church, 
and  it  is  my  privilege,  first  of  all,  to  present  to  you  one,  the 
worthy  successor  of  the  great  DeLancey,  who  was  schooled  at 
the  feet  of  Hobart,  and  who  comes  here  to-night,  himself  the 
father  of  a  diocese,  to  speak  to  us  both  for  Western  New 
York,  and  in  the  absence  of  the  Bishop  of  Central  New  York, 


104  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

of  its  daughter,  the  Diocese  of  Central  New  York.  There 
are  none  here  who  need  that  I  should  introduce  him,  and 
there  are  many  to  whom  his  voice  will  come  with  particular 
charm,  as  one  who  in  this  city  early  learned  to  love  the 
Church,  and  was  in  later  years  called  hence  from  the  Rector- 
ship of  Calvary  Church  to  the  position  which  he  now  adorns. 
I  have  great  pleasure  in  presenting  the  Rt.  Rev.  the  Bishop 
of  Western  New  York. 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   ST.   THOMAS'   CHURCH.  105 


ADDRESS  OF  RIGHT  REV.  ARTHUR  CLEVELAND  COXE,  D.D. 

My  Right  Reverend  Brother,  Right  Reverend  and  Rev- 
erend Brethren,  and  you,  my  Christian  Brethren  of  the  Laity  : 
Taking  up  the  narrative  where  the  historical  essay  closed,  we 
might  go  on  and  survey  the  history  of  the  Church  in  the  State 
of  New  York,  with  great  and  inspiring  interest.  We  have  no 
time  to  observe  what  wonderful  things  God  has  done  by 
agencies  apparently  weak,  but  it  is  His  delight  to  show  that 
while  He  permits  us  to  be  fellow-laborers  with  Him,  He  is 
capable  of  working  without  us,  of  working  beyond  and  above 
us,  and  of  doing  wonderful  things  whereof  we  are  glad,  in 
which  after  all  we  can  discover  very  little  that  is  done  by 
ourselves. 

When  I  think,  my  Right  Reverend  Brother,  of  what  the 
Church  in  New  York  might  have  done,  had  all  those  who,  for 
one  hundred  years  have  shared  her  blessings,  been  possessed  of 
a  deep  sense  of  their  personal  duty  to  make  known  the  tidings 
of  the  Gospel  to  every  soul  within  the  bounds  of  this  State, 
oh,  how  meagre  appears  the  result.  I  say  when  we  think 
what  would  have  been  the  consquence  had  all  the  clergy,  and 
particularly  the  laity,  been  animated  by  the  spirit  of  the  first 
Christian  ages  ;  of  the  days  when  every  man  who  professed  the 
name  of  Christ  undertook  to  fight  manfully  under  His  banner, 
and  that  not  in  rhetorical  figure,  but  as  one  who  counted  not 
his  life  dear  unto  him  ;  who  was  willing  to  take  joyfully  the 
spoiling  of  his  goods,  and  to  give  his  body  to  be  burned  that 
he  might  have  a  portion  in  the  eternal  inheritance  of  the  Re- 
deemer, whom  he  glorified  and  magnified  in  life  and  death. 

Oh,  for  that  martyr-spirit  of  the  first  ages,  which  is  so  lack- 
ing in  our  times  ;  which,  I  think,  in  some  respects  was  not  so 
essentially  lacking  in  the  days  when  this  diocese  was  founded. 
We  congratulate  ourselves  now  upon  having,  with  our  pleasant 
homes,  these  magnificent  fabrics  for  churches,  and  we  see 
religion  enshrined  in  much  that  strikes  the  eye  ;  but,  alas,  I 
fear  we  may  be  too  willing  to  congratulate  ourselves  on  all 
this  without  reflecting  upon  what  the   Church   was   in   the 


106  CENTENNIAL  CHURCH   HISTORY. 

hearts  of  those  who,  without  any  such  accompaniments,  never- 
theless understood  and  valued  her  privileges  and  resolved, 
one  hundred  years  ago,  to  leave  to  their  children,  her  richest 
blessings  purchased  by  sacrifices.  What  less  could  have  in- 
duced Seabury  and  White,  and  the  brave  men  of  that  age, 
clerical  and  lay,  to  do  what  they  did  ?  There  was  little  to  ex- 
cite enthusiasm  ,  their  means  were  apparently  small  ;  books, 
schools,  everything  seemed  wanting  ;  and  to  be  a  minister  of 
Christ  in  the  communion  of  this  Church  was  to  be  subjected 
to  a  great  many  forms  of  trial  of  which  we  know  nothing. 
Nay,  to  be  even  a  layman  of  this  Church,  unless  it  was  in  this 
favored  city,  was  to  be  deprived,  through  a  large  portion  of  the 
year,  of  almost  every  thing  which  we  count  essential  to  one's 
religious  life.  If  reflections  like  these,  my  Right  Reverend 
Brother,  might  be  more  freely  worked  out,  I  am  afraid  we 
should  feel  that,  after  all,  this  day  should  be  to  us  one  of 
humiliation  :  certainly  not  one  of  self-sufficient  pride.  "  Not 
unto  us,  but  unto  Thy  name,"  great  God,  be  the  glory  and  the 
praise. 

When  we  have  thus  made  becoming  acknowledgments  of 
our  own  demerit,  "let  us  now  praise  famous  men,"  and  speak 
with  thanksgiving  and  joy  of  all  those  glorious  spirits  who 
were  successively  raised  up  to  carry  on  the  work  and  to  bless 
us  and  our  children  after  us. 

My  right  reverend  brother  has  spoken  of  me  as  a  native 
of  New  York.  It  is  of  no  importance  ;  but  not  to  sail  under 
false  colors,  let  me  say  that  I  was  born  in  the  neighboring 
State  of  New  Jersey  ;  albeit,  within  forty  miles  of  New  York, 
where,  in  Hibernian  phrase,  "  I  became  a  native  "  when  but 
two  years  old.  At  six  years  of  age  I  knew  parts  of  the  Cate- 
chism, and  kept  my  first  Christmas  in  dear  old  St.  Paul's.  I 
am  thankful  that  I  am  under  the  roof  of  St.  Thomas'  church, 
to  say  here  that  in  the  original  St.  Thomas'  church  (a  build- 
ing which  greatly  impressed  my  fancy  as  a  child),  I  was  privi- 
leged at  seven  years  of  age  to  keep  my  second  Christmas,  and 
to  hear  the  mellifluous  tongue  of  Duffie.  He  struck  me  at  that 
time  as  one  of  the  most  gracious  specimens  of  a  Christian 
pastor  that  could  be  conceived  of;    and  I  retain,  to  this  day, 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   ST.   THOMAS'    CHURCH.  107 

the  sweet  sounds  that  came  upon  my  ear,  in  the  words  of  the 
Epistle  and  Gospel,  as  he  read  them  on  that  joyous  Christmas 
of  1826.  Duffie  was  the  delight  of  children,  and  one  of  the  few 
who  knew  how  to  interest  and  instruct  them.  Ah,  if  it  were 
becoming,  if  it  were  proper,  what  stories  I  could  tell  of  the 
Church  in  this  city  as  it  rose  upon  my  boyhood's  imagination, 
and  grew  brighter  and  brighter  every  year.  How  lovingly  I 
remember  the  clergy  of  those  days  ;  how  well  I  remember 
Bishop  Hobart,  his  week-day  ministrations,  and  the  sermons 
which  he  preached  when  I  was  a  boy.  I  could  not  be  kept 
away  from  the  fair  temples  of  God,  even  for  boyish  play.  At 
this  point,  I  may  add,  that  I  was  present  when  Dr.  Upfold 
was  instituted  rector  of  St.  Thomas'  Church,  to  succeed  the 
lamented  Duffie.  I  could  recall  many  pleasant  memories  of 
that  glorious  man,  the  great  bishop,  who  preached  that  morn- 
ing ;  and  many  more,  gathered  from  others,  since  I  succeeded 
to  a  portion  of  his  diocese  in  Western  New  York.  My  dio- 
cese and  its  college  are  trophies  of  Bishop  Hobart's  life.  To 
him  we  owe  our  existence.  He  regarded  that  region  as  his 
peculiar  missionary  field;  he  bestowed  much  love  and  labor 
there  :  and,  as  representing  the  oldest  daughter  of  the  Diocese 
of  New  York,  I  may  feel  that  I  am  speaking  of  a  region  which 
ought  to  be  beloved  by  the  Churchmen  of  New  York.  It  must 
be  so,  if  you  reflect  that  it  was  there,  in  Western  New  York, 
that  Bishop  Hobart's  last  labors  were  given  to  God.  It  was 
there  that  he  laid  down  his  pastoral  staff  and  his  life  and  went 
to  his  reward.  Well  do  I  recollect  the  thrill  of  unfeigned 
sorrow  that  went  through  this  city  (when  there  was  no  rail- 
road and  no  telegraph),  as,  day  after  day,  the  papers  announced 
that  the  bishop  had  fallen  sick  at  Auburn,  and  that  his  life 
was  despaired  of.  So  it  always  occurs  with  great  events  even 
in  our  days  ;  something  comes  beforehand,  and  no  one  knows 
how  it  comes  ;  but  the  news  is  everywhere  surmised,  and  then 
at  last  comes  the  sudden  blow.  Permit  me  to  recall  the  fune- 
ral of  Bishop  Hobart,  which  I  followed  from  St.  John's  Square 
all  the  way  down  through  Walker  Street  to  Broadway,  and  so 
on  to  Trinity  Church  ;  the  most  decorous  and  most  venerable, 
in  every  respect  the  most  impressive  funeral  that  I  ever  be- 


108  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

held.  All  New  York  looked  on  and  everything  was  done  with 
decency  and  order,  yet  without  parade  and  with  a  sublime 
simplicity.  The  funeral  train  was  very  long  ;  there  were  no 
carriages,  save  one  or  two,  perhaps,  for  the  bishop's  family, 
and  all  that  was  good  in  New  York  seemed  present.  The 
ministers  of  religion,  the  students  of  Columbia  College,  in 
academic  dress,  and  venerable  presbyters  of  the  diocese,  in 
gown  and  cassock,  with  bands,  made  a  striking  figure. 

The  body  was  carried  on  men's  shoulders  and  covered 
with  a  pall,  which  six  presbyters  supported  as  pall-bearers. 
As  they  passed  down  Broadway  a  military  company,  or  per- 
haps a  larger  portion  of  a  regiment,  met  the  funeral  by  acci- 
dent ;  but  instinctively,  reverently,  by  those  methods  which 
military  men  better  understand  than  I  can  describe  them,  the 
ranks  were  separated  and  they  stood  with  reversed  arms  while 
the  remains  of  the  great  Bishop  of  New  York  passed  between 
that  file  of  solemn  soldiery,  offering  an  unbought  tribute  to 
his  universally  acknowledged  merits  as  a  prelate  and  a  man 
of  God. 

I  have  exhausted  one-half  of  my  time  and  the  story  is  not 
told.  I  ought  to  tell  how  the  Diocese  of  Western  New  York 
originated.  You  are  celebrating  the  one  hundredth  year  of 
this  maternal  diocese.  You  are  celebrating  the  fiftieth  year 
of  my  diocese.  Fifty  years  ago,  and,  if  I  am  not  wrong,  at 
this  very  time  of  the  year,  there  was  gathered  in  the  city  of 
Utica  one  of  the  most  memorable  conventions  that  was  ever 
held  among  us,  to  take  into  consideration  whether  the  Dio- 
cese of  New  York  should  be  "  made  two  bands."  Public  sen- 
timent was  greatly  divided  at  that  time.  I  remember  it  well, 
for,  owing  to  circumstances,  the  idea  had  taken  possession  of 
our  people  that  a  diocese  must  always  be  commensurate  with 
the  State,  so  that  the  Diocese  of  New  York,  it  was  supposed, 
must  be  the  Diocese  of  the  State  of  New  York.  Who  was  it 
that  woke  us  up  to  higher  and  more  Catholic  ideas?  I  an- 
swer, Dr.  Whittingham,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Maryland  :  his 
memorable  little  tract  it  was  that  stirred  the  whole  Church. 
And  when  one  reflects  on  what  is  commonly  said  concerning 
the  Catholic  movement   of  Oxford   fifty  years  ago,  it  may 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   ST.   THOMAS'   CHURCH.  IO9 

justly  be  suggested  that  it  was  all  anticipated  in  the  lofty 
character  of  Whittingham,  at  that  time  rector  of  St.  Luke's 
Church.     I  saw  him  instituted ;  he  was  then  one  of  the  most 
interesting  young  ecclesiastics  that  ever  lived  ;  without  charms 
of  person  ;  without  charms  of  that  kind  of  eloquence  which  is 
called  popular  ;  but  a  man  perfectly  saturated  with  the  spirit 
of  the  primitive  ages ;    a  man   concerning  whom   an   English 
divine  said  to  me,  "  If  the  whole  Catholic  Church  was  buried 
save  only  your  Whittingham,  I  believe  out  of  that  one  man 
the  whole  Catholic  Church  might  rise  up  again  like  our  Di- 
vine Lord  in  living  glory."    He  anticipated  the  Oxford  move- 
ment, and  he  might  have  saved  it  from  its  merited  decline. 
His  life,  his  character,  and  teachings  were  those  of  the  first 
Christian  ages.     He  lived  them  over  again  ;  and  what  higher 
eulogy  can  we  pay  to  the  Diocese  of  New  York,  in  its  early 
history,  than  to  say  that  it  bred  that  man  ?     He  was  the  typi- 
cal, the  characteristic  son  of  the  diocese,  reflecting  in  his  whole 
nature,  not  only  the  teaching  of  his  great  master,  Bishop  Ho- 
bart,  but  the  spirit  of  the   blessed  apostles,  the  spirit  of  the 
Nicene  Fathers,  the  spirit  of  the  martyrs,  as  no  other  man  of 
our  times  has  done.     He  was  really,  what  some  only  imagine 
themselves  to  be — a  Catholic.     In  him  Antiquity  was  known 
here,  was  professed  here,  and  lived  here;    he  was  the  grand 
apostle  of  it  before  we  heard   of  Dr.  Pusey — I  say  it  not  to 
disparage  that  great  and  venerated  scholar.     There  are  those 
in  this  church  who  know  that  what  I  say  is  a  tribute  to  his- 
toric truth.     The  Diocese  of  Western   New  York  originated 
in    his   great    and    most  Catholic    instructions.     The   whole 
Church    responded.     A  diocese   thereafter    was  not   to    be, 
necessarily,  large  enough  for  an  empire.     He  pointed  out  the 
seven  churches  to  which  Jesus  sent  His  apostles  ;    showed  us 
the  great  high-priest  of  the  Catholic  Church  addressing  the 
bishop  of  Philadelphia,  the  Church  of  Tarsus,  the  Church  of 
Smyrna  and  other  cities.     A  diocese  was  originally  a  city. 
Every  great  city  was  to  have  its  bishop,  and  to  be  the  centre 
of  power  and  influence  to  surrounding  Paganism. 

So,  as  I  have  said,  just  fifty  years  ago  a  reforming  Council 
met  at  Utica,  and    it   was   glorified  by  a  splendid  debate. 


HO  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

Again  I  must  bear  a  tribute  to  St.  Thomas'  Church,  for  the 
eloquent  tongue  of  Hawks  was  never  more  distinguished  than 
on  that  occasion.  In  a  brilliant  debate  he  was  met  by  a 
prominent  layman  well  known  as  an  American  jurist,*  and 
these  representative  men  led  the  discussion.  Then  were  set- 
tled the  principles  upon  which  the  diocese  should  be  divided; 
but,  previously,  the  great  question  whether  it  should  be  di- 
vided at  all ;  or,  to  use  better  ecclesiastical  phraseology,  whether 
a  daughter  diocese  should  be  erected.  Three  years  after  that, 
in  1838,  such  a  diocese  was  erected,  and  the  graceful  and 
learned  De  Lancey  was  taken  from  Philadelphia  (he  was  a  son 
of  New  York,  of  an  old  Westchester  family),  and  was  made 
the  first  bishop,  taking  up  his  pastoral  staff  at  Auburn,  where 
the  great  Hobart  had  closed  his  luminous  career. 

If  I  could  tell  you  of  the  humble  men,  living  on  a  few  hun- 
dred dollars,  who  had  brought  Western  New  York  to  the 
point  where  it  could  receive  such  a  man  as  its  first  bishop, 
you  would  have  the  history  of  simple,  persevering,  suffering, 
fidelity  to  the  truth  of  the  Gospel,  on  the  part  of  men  who 
have  left  little  record  in  this  world  except  that  of  their  good 
works,  which  still  speak  to  all  men,  and  which  follow  them  to 
glory.  Beloved,  faithful  missionary  presbyters  built  up  my 
diocese.  See  what  "diocesan  missions"  mean.  They  rest 
from  their  labors;  but  let  it  be  remembered  of  one,  the  illus- 
trious missionary  of  the  West,  whose  work  was  in  that  region 
where  my  own  labors  are  now  expended,  let  it  be  remembered 
of  Davenport  Phelps,  and  to  the  honor  of  the  second  Bishop 
of  New  York,  that  he  came  to  the  city  of  New  York  to  be 
ordained  by  Bishop  Moore,  because  he  was  a  bishop  who 
"believed  in  missions."  Bishop  Moore — reverend  and  vener- 
able name — had  started  from  the  very  outset  of  his  episco- 
pate with  an  impression  of  the  importance  of  missions,  and 
with  confidence  in  missionary  effort.  Mr.  Phelps  said:  "I 
want  to  be  ordained  by  that  man  who  believes  in  my  chosen 
work; "  and  wherever  that  missionary  labored  (going  into  lit- 
tle cottages,  and  baptizing  children,  and  catechising  them), 
now  stands  some  monument  of  his  life  and  of  his  faith. 

*John  C.  Spencer,  of  Canandaigua. 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   ST.   THOMAS     CHURCH.  Ill 

Under  the  guidance  of  that  glorious  character,  Bishop  De 
Lancey,  the  Diocese  of  Western  New  York  grew  from  great 
feebleness  to  something  like  strength.  When  he  rested  from 
his  labors  in  1865  I  was  called  from  my  beloved  parish  in  this 
city,  very  reluctant  to  turn  away  from  my  work  here,  to  suc- 
ceed that  blessed  man,  or  rather,  to  be  consecrated  by  his 
hands,  and  to  be  his  coadjutor;  a  position  I  held  for  three 
months  only,  when  his  mantle  and  the  great  responsibilities 
of  the  whole  diocese  fell  upon  me.  Three  years  after,  in 
1868,  the  Diocese  of  Western  New  York  herself  became  a 
mother,  and  the  admirable  Diocese  of  Central  New  York  was 
called  into  being.  In  1869  was  consecrated  as  its  first  bishop, 
that  "burning  and  shining  light,"  Bishop  Huntington,  form- 
erly the  ornament  of  Harvard  University,  and  now  the  faith- 
ful and  devoted  missionary  apostle  of  Central  New  York, 
whose  absence  in  this  day  of  memories  is  about  all  that  has 
given  it  any  touch  of  disappointment. 

I  ought  to  sit  down.  I  have  told  my  story,  and  yet  I  have 
not  told  it.  May  I  take  a  few  minutes  to  say  in  close  of  my 
share  in  this  solemn  day's  proceedings  that  it  is  a  day  which 
ought  to  be  remembered  and  which  should  leave  a  deep  im- 
pression on  all  who  have  been  favored  to  attend  it.  If  there 
ever  have  been  divisions  of  hearts  where  there  have  been 
divisions  of  dioceses  (I  am  not  aware  that  there  have  been, 
but  such  things  grow  up  with  unavoidable  estrangements), 
to-day  it  seems  to  me  they  are  gone  forever.  It  seems  as  if 
the  beautiful  services  in  Trinity  Church  this  morning  were 
animated  from  beginning  to  end  by  the  spirit  of  that  old 
hymn  of  the  Church  : 

"  Of  strife  and  of  dissension 

Dissolve,  O  Lord,  the  bands, 
And  knit  the  knots  of  peace  and  love 
Throughout  all  Christian  lands." 

Touchingly  has  the  bishop  of  this  diocese  been  remem- 
bered in  our  prayers  and  in  our  constant  reverence  of  filial 
affection.  The  names  of  the  presiding  bishops  have  been  re- 
called with  love  and  admiration  ;  the  eminent  names  of  God's 


112  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

servants  who  have  entered  into  rest  have  passed  before  us  in 
bright  review  :  the  names,  among  others,  of  Muhlenberg, 
dear  saint,  and  of  Milnor,  and  of  Hill,  the  modern  evangelist 
of  Greece.  But  there  is  one  name  which  I  think  was  not 
mentioned  this  morning,  and  it  ought  to  have  been — the 
honored  name  of  Dr.  McVickar.  He  was  one  of  the  best 
preachers  I  heard  in  my  early  days,  and  his  sermons,  if  not 
strictly  what  are  called  eloquent  sermons,  were  most  instruc- 
tive, and  were  delivered  from  the  pulpit  with  a  critical  use  of 
language  and  a  command  of  his  subject  which  made  me  look 
up  to  him  and  feel  what  a  glorious  thing  it  is  to  be  a  minister 
of  Christ.  And  such  it  is,  my  brethren.  If  anything  has 
been  done  in  our  country  and  for  our  country,  it  has  been 
done,  if  not  altogether  by  clergy,  yet  by  means  of  them  ;  not 
by  power,  not  by  might,  but  by  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  by  the 
Spirit  of  God  working  in  the  lives  and  in  the  hearts  and  souls 
of  faithful  men  who,  looking  upon  the  allurements  of  the 
world,  counted  all  as  dross,  that  they  might  preach  Christ. 
They  carried  on  the  work  for  which  the  Son  of  God  came 
down,  and  for  which  the  most  noble  spirits  that  ever  glorified 
humanity  have  lived  and  died.  O,  mothers,  why  are  not 
your  sons  forthcoming,  like  Timothy  and  Titus  and  such  as 
were  the  Chrysostoms  and  the  Ambroses  of  the  early  Christ- 
ian day?  Why  do  you  not  reflect  that  the  work  which 
stands  first  and  last  and  will  live  forever  is  the  work  which 
the  faithful  man  of  God  is  permitted  to  do  in  his  Master's 
name,  winning  souls  which  shall  shine  as  the  firmament  and 
as  the  stars  forever  and  ever? 


BISHOP  POTTER  at  the  conclusion  of  the  address  said, 
The  Bishop  of  Western  New  York  has  reminded  us  of  the 
one  cloud  upon  the  joy  of  this  assemblage.  I  may  men- 
tion one  other,  which  will  occur  to  all  of  you,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  the  venerated  bishop  of  this  Diocese,  who  would 
most  properly  have  presided  on  this  occasion,  and  have 
given  to  you  his  paternal  benediction.    -In  his  absence,  how- 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   ST.   THOMAS     CHURCH.  II3 

ever,  we  are  favored  with  the  presence  of  one  who  succeeded 
him  in  the  parish  from  which  he  was  called  to  the  charge  of 
this  diocese,  and  who  to-day  presides  over  that  part  of  the 
State  of  New  York  to  which  Bishop  Potter  by  his  associa- 
tions was  especially  endeared.  I  have  great  pleasure  in  pre- 
senting to  you  the  Rt.  Rev.  the  Bishop  of  Albany. 


ADDRESS  OF  RIGHT  REV.  WILLIAM  CROSWELL  DOANE,  D.D. 

This   is  the  second  Convention  of  the  Diocese  of  New 
York,  said  Bishop  Doane,  which  it  has   been  my  privilege  to 
attend.    The  first  was  in  1868,  at  which  twin  daughters  were 
born  to  the  mother;   Long  Island  the  older,  and  Albany  the 
younger  of  the  two.     And  as  I  come  back  here  to-night  with 
so  many  memories  revived,  so  many  faces  remembered,  and 
so  many  missed,    I  confess  almost  the   first  thought  in  my 
mind  has  been  that  which  my  brother  has  so  delicately  and 
kindly  alluded  to   just  now;  that  it  was  my  privilege   some- 
what to  relieve  the  shoulders  of  the  venerable  bishop  of  this 
diocese  from  a  large  part  of  what  was  a  heavy  burden  both 
of  travel  and  of  travail ;  and  at  the  same  time,  I  know  a  por- 
tion of  the  burden  which   he  was  always  most  glad  to  bear. 
The  history  of  the  Diocese  of  Albany,  I  think  is  in  certain  ways 
a  somewhat  peculiar  one.    I  remember,  for  instance,  that  you 
owe  to  what  is  now  the  Diocese  of  Albany,  the  bishop  and  the 
assistant  bishop  of  this  diocese  ;  one  of  whom  was  the  rector 
of  its  old  mother  parish,  and  the  other  of  whom  won  his  first 
spurs  in  the  important  city  of  Troy — spurs  which   I  am  so 
glad  he   still   wears  and    uses  to  stimulate  to  all   noble  and 
energetic  efforts  for  the  Church.      I  remember  that  the  old 
Northern  Convocation,  which  is  now  the  Diocese  of  Albany, 
furnished    at  once   the  missionary  field  and  the   missionary 
spirit  of  the  Diocese  of  New  York  ;    and  I  remember   that 
I  can  say  of  it  what  Bishop  Coxe  has  just  said  of  Western 
New  York,  in  its    relation  to    Bishop    Hobart,   that  it  was 
the  dearest   portion   of  Bishop   Potter's  jurisdiction,   which 
certainly  will  yield  to  no  part  of  the  diocese  in  the  affection 
in  which  it  held  him  ;  and  in  the  love  and  reverence  in  which 


114  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

it  holds  his  memory  now.  I  remember  that  Albany  has 
given  to  the  Church  at  large,  not  only  these  two  bishops  of 
whom  I  speak,  but  also  the  Bishop  of  Long  Island,  who 
began  his  work  in  Schenectady  ;  the  Bishop  of  Missouri  and 
Utah,  of  New  Jersey  and  Northern  Jersey,  of  Fond  du  Lac 
and  Indiana  and  Nebraska,  and  the  Assistant  of  Central  Penn- 
sylvania. I  remember  among  the  names  of  this  diocese, 
when  it  was  one  great  undivided  family,  that  chief  missionary 
of  the  State,  who  won  the  name,  because  he  bore  the  charac- 
ter of  true  fatherhood,  of  Father  Nash,  the  great  missionary 
of  Otsego  County,  and  the  old  names,  familiar  as  were  their 
faces  to  you,  of  Bostwick  and  of  Payne,  and  Tucker,  the 
latter  of  whom  I  miss  so  much  to-day  ;  and  I  remember  the 
layman,  whose  gray  hair  was  the  type  not  only  of  the  dignity 
and  honor  of  his  years,  but  of  the  ripeness  and  beauty  of 
his  intellect  and  character,  my  most  beloved  friend, — whose 
friendship  was  an  heritage,  which  the  bishop  of  this  diocese, 
I  cannot  say  handed  down  to  me  because  I  shared  it  with 
him — my  beloved  friend,  Orlando  Meads.  When  I  remem- 
ber these  men  and  these  things  I  am  disposed  to  feel  that  the 
history  of  Albany  and  its  relation  to  this  diocese  are  matter 
both  of  interest  and  importance.  I  go  back  to  certain  other 
things;  I  am  somewhat  full  of  the  traditions  of  the  old  part 
of  this  diocese.  It  was  known  as  the  Northern  Convoca- 
tion. It  was  full  of  the  most  intense  and  earnest  energy  in 
the  developments  and  progress  of  the  Church,  and  it  was 
saturated,  down  to  the  very  children,  with  Catholic  theology, 
as  Bishop  Hobart  first  taught  it  in  this  diocese  and  I  might 
almost  say  in  this  land.  I  suppose  I  may  seem  to  be  making 
somewhat  of  a  strong  claim  when  I  say  that  the  great  river, 
which  gives  to  New  York  its  wealth,  finds  it  source  in  the 
Adirondack  forests,  a  portion  of  the  Diocese  of  Albany.  The 
water-shed  that  is  protected— I  only  wish  it  was  better  pro- 
tected and  I  only  hope  that  it  will  be  one  of  these  days — the 
water-shed  that  is  protected  by  that  primitive  forest  is  the 
source  and  spring  of  the  wealth  and  commercial  dignity  of 
this  great  city  of  the  Union  ;  "which  thing  is  an  allegory"  of 
the  men  that  came  to  you  from  us;  and  of  the  tone  and  stand- 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   ST.   THOMAS     CHURCH.  1 1 5 

ard  of  churchly  teaching  and  feeling  which  those  men  always 
brought  down  with  them,  like  a  fresh  pine  odor  and  a 
fresh  mountain  breeze  from  the  North,  when  they  came 
to  this  Convention  ;  to  stand  by  Bishop  Onderdonk  in 
all  his  trials;  to  minister  as  they  well  could,  soundness 
and  strength  to  the  counsels  of  this  diocese.  I  am  dis- 
posed to  think  I  have  some  right  to  found  upon  these  facts 
the  statement  of  a  claim,  which  I  think  Albany  has  upon  the 
Diocese  of  New  York.  I  hope  nobody  will  imagine  that  I 
have  forgotten  the  proprieties  of  this  occasion,  or  that  I  have 
forgotten  my  own  personal  dignity  so  far  as  to  feel  that  this  is 
the  time  or  place,  even  if  there  were  any  need,  to  speak  of  any 
claim  that  can  be  paid  in  money,  whether  it  be  the  dower  to 
be  given,  as  I  believe  it  will  one  day  be  given  by  the  mother 
to  the  daughter  ;  or  the  help  that  I  trust  will  one  day  be  given, 
in  recognition  of  the  effort  making  to  build  a  Cathedral  Church 
in  the  capital  city  of  this  State.  I  am  not  thinking  of  any 
claim  of  this  sort,  or  of  any  matter  that  money  can  repay ; 
I  am  thinking  of  just  what  my  brother  said  who  spoke 
before  me. 

I  was  going  to  say,  when  I  first  spoke  of  the  twin  birth  of 
Long  Island  and  Albany,  that  twinship  was  the  only  thing  in 
which  they  resembled  Jacob  and  Esau,  but  I  am  a  little  dis- 
posed to  think  that  the  older  brother  has  taken  part  of  my 
right ;  for  the  one  thing  I  had  saved  to  speak  of  here  was  the 
earnest  longing — and  I  am  quite  sure  I  represent  the  diocese  I 
have  the  honor  and  privilege  of  belonging  to  when  I  speak  of  it 
— the  earnest  longing  to  come  back  to  this  old  mother  diocese  ; 
not,  as  St.  Paul  said  of  Onesiphorus,  "  not  as  a  servant,  but 
as  a  brother  beloved."  So  I  say,  not  as  a  child  to  be  fostered 
and  fed  and  cared  for  (we  have  a  notion  up  North  that  we 
are  walking  pretty  well  alone)  but  to  come  back  to  that, 
which,  in  all  human  experience,  is  the  sweetest  of  all  com- 
panionship and  the  safest  of  all  counselling,  the  relation 
between  daughters  grown  up  to  be  almost  the  sisters  of  their 
mother — "  Fades  non  omnibus  una,  nee  diversa  tamen,  qualevi 
decet  esse  sororum ;  "  the  fair  and  well-grown  sisters  with 
their   mother,  taking   counsel    together  for  the  things  that 


Il6  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

pertain  to  the  common  interests.     I  am  not  speaking  of  this 
either  out  of  sentiment  or  out  of  sympathy  ;  although  I  am  a 
great  believer  in  both.     I  do  not  believe  that  Jacob  would 
ever  have  built  his  pillar  or  consecrated  it,  or  gone  back  there 
again  and  doubly   consecrated  it,  if  he  had  not  used  those 
stones  first  for  the  pillow  on  which  he  dreamed.     I  do  not 
think  men  do  any  great  thing  in  the  world  that  they  do  not 
dream  about ;  and  sentiment  and   sympathy  give  wings,  and 
life,  and  airiness,  and  heavenly  tendencies  to  the  work  that  men 
are  proposing  to  do.     But  this  is  not  a  matter,  in  my  judg- 
ment, of  mere  sentiment  or  sympathy.     I  dimly  caught  to- 
day, rather  hearing   between    lines,  both    in    the    admirable 
sermon  this  morning  and  in  the  historical  sketch  of  this  even- 
ing, a  little  sort  of  diminution,  or  degradation,  or  depravation 
of  the  idea  of  Provincial   Synods  or  Federate   Councils.     I 
do  not  care  what  you  call  it  (although  I  would  rather  call 
things  by  their  right  names  than  their  wrong  names),  I  do 
not  care  what  you  call  it  so  you  get  it  ;  and  I  do  ask  you,  my 
Right  Reverend  Brother  and  my  friends,  to  take  this  matter  in 
hand.     There  are  a  thousand  and  one  things,  which  I  think,  if 
I  were  the  Diocese  of  New  York  and  were  a  hundred  and  one 
years  old,  I  would  resolve  to  do  in  the  strength  of  the  past 
and  in  the  hope  of  the  future  ;  but  I  am  not  the  Diocese  of 
New  York  and  not  a  hundred  and  one  years  old  ;  so  I  do 
not  propose  to  enumerate  the  one  thousand  things  ;  but  I  do 
press  this  one  thing,  as  needful  for  the  great  interests  which 
are  common  to  us  all  within  the  limits  of  this  State. 

I  live  in  Albany  and  some  of  you  come  there  sometimes. 
There  is  a  good  deal  of  risk  and  danger  going  on  there,  now 
and  then,  in  matters  that  concern,  not  questions  of  State,  but 
questions  of  the  Church,  questions  ecclesiastical  and  religious. 
I  think  we  ought  to  be  represented  there  not  by  the  single 
bishop  of  a  single  diocese,  but  we  ought  to  be  represented, 
when  the  occasion  comes,  by  the  multitudinous  voice  of  the 
great  old  Diocese  of  New  York ;  stronger  for  its  divisions,  as 
some  things  do  grow  stronger  when  you  cut  them  and  plant 
them  in  proper  places.  For  the  administration  of  great  trusts, 
for  the  government  of  general  institutions  already  founded,  for 


PROCEEDINGS  AT   ST.   THOMAS'   CHURCH.  117 

the  foundation  of  other  institutions,  and  the  regulation  of  mat- 
ters of  charity  and  mercy  as  well  as  of  education  ;  above  all, 
for  this  great  question,  of  somewhat  controlling  and  shaping 
the  ecclesiastical  legislation,  so  far  as  civil  legislators  have 
anything  to  do  with  it ;  for  such  things  as  these,  I  believe  in 
letting  the  thousand  things  go,  so  that  this  one  thing,  THE 
PROVINCE,  worth  praying  for  and  thinking  of,  may  be  se- 
cured. This  Diocese  of  New  York,  entering  with  renewed 
strength  upon  its  work,  perhaps  has,  perhaps  has  not,  got 
through  with  the  consideration  of  divisions;  the  question  of 
"  ex  uno  plures."  The  thing  to  treat  of  now  is  the  "  e  pluribus 
unum"  the  reuniting  of  the  parted  members. 

That  is  pretty  much  what  I  have  to  say,  my  Right  Rever- 
end Brother.  Last  week  in  my  Greene  County  visitations,  if 
it  had  not  been  for  a  range  of  mountains,  I  might  have  shaken 
hands  with  the  Assistant  Bishop  of  New  York,  when  we  were 
both  consecrating  churches,  within  eight  miles  of  each  other. 
Coming  home  from  these  autumnal  visits,  with  feet  and 
thoughts  set  towards  this  great  gathering,  I  was  struck  with 
three  things.  I  went  to  an  old  parish  in  Delaware  County, 
in  a  town  which  had  the  good  sense,  I  do  not  know  how 
many  years  ago,  to  change  its  name  from  an  exceedingly 
common  and  secular  appellation,  to  the  dignified  and  honored 
name  of  Hobart.  I  was  in  St.  Peter's  Church,  Hobart,  only 
on  Monday  night,  the  eve  of  the  Feast  of  St.  Michael.  I  went 
the  next  day  to  consecrate  a  church  in  the  adjoining  village 
of  Stamford,  the  outgrowth  of  the  zeal  and  energy  of  the  old 
parish  in  Hobart,  and  it  seemed  to  me  to  be  a  fitting  type  of 
so  much  that  we  have  to  thank  God  for  to-day,  that  out  of 
the  zeal  and  energy,  the  devotion  and  wisdom  of  that  great 
bishop  of  this  State,  so  much  has  grown. 

I  wonder  if  I  dare  say  here  that  the  village  of  Stamford, 
adjoining  the  village  of  Hobart,  in  which  I  consecrated  the 
Church,  the  Church  being  due  to  the  energy  of  the  Rector  of 
Hobart,  used  to  be  known  as  the  "  Devil's  half-acre  ;  "  and 
now  it  rejoices  in  the  possession  of  as  good  and  peaceful  a 
body  of  villagers  as  I  know  of  anywhere.  This  is  not  an  un- 
fit symbol  of  Bishop  Hobart's  battle  with  evil,  and  because  he 


Il8  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

fought  it  so  well,  the  Church  has  its  great  strength  and  vigor 
to-day. 

Close  by  Stamford  runs  a  little  narrow  stream,  flowing 
from  a  lake  with  a  long  name  which  I  cannot  remember, 
which  is  the  headwaters  of  the  Delaware  River.  It  took  me 
back  fifty-two  years  to  that  most  beautiful  and  beloved  place 
where  my  dear  father  lived,  and  labored,  and  died  ;  who,  if 
he  called  any  one  master,  and  swore  by  the  words  of  any 
master  in  the  world,  that  man  was  Bishop  Hobart.  And  the 
old  stream  of  personal  memories  carried  me  back  to  many 
and  many  a  thought  and  longing  and  wish;  that,  as  such  great, 
great  blessings  flowed  from  such  small  beginnings  as  that 
little  stream  seemed  there  ;  so,  from  such  little  things  as  we 
are  able  to  do  in  our  life  and  labor,  God  may  bring  great  and 
gracious  results  of  spiritual  refreshment  to  the  world.  Then  I 
came  down  the  other  side  of  the  same  mountain,  through  those 
marvellous  colors  on  the  hillsides,  which  realize,  into  almost 
material  fact,  the  truth,  that  God  "  maketh  His  Angels  spirits 
and  His  Ministers  a  flame  of  fire;"  kindling  a  tongue  of  flame 
on  every  tree,  upon  the  hills,  and,  it  seemed  to  me,  that  in 
the  midst  of  all  those  unearthly  glories,  I  could  feel,  not 
merely  that  gracious  appointment  of  God,  by  which  He  has 
set  men  and  angels  in  a  wonderful  order,  to  work ;  but  that  I 
could  realize  also  how  the  beloved  in  Paradise,  in  the  pure 
and  fair  and  unveiled  vision  of  the  glories  of  the  Eternal  City, 
absent  from  our  eyes,  were  none  the  less  sharers  with  us,  by 
interest  and  intercession,  in  perpetually  carrying  on  the  work, 
for  which  they  lived  and  for  which  they  laid  down  their  lives. 


As  the  traveller  crosses  the  Atlantic  on  his  homeward 
way,  said  Bishop  Potter,  he  is  saluted,  when  he  approaches 
this  port  of  ours,  as  the  first  sign  of  the  home  which  he 
seeks,  by  that  magnificent  light,  which,  heralding  Long 
Island,  greets  the  traveller  from  that  other,  which  we  know 
as  Fire  Island.  Another  light  clear  and  commanding  has 
ruled  the  peaceful  history  of  the  Diocese  of  Long  Island,  as 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   ST.    THOMAS'    CHURCH.  119 

witness  to  the  influence  of  a  life  of  service,  both  in  letters 
and  of  labors,  and  has  made  that  jurisdiction  one  of  the 
most  commanding  in  the  whole  American  Church.  We  are 
favored  and  honored  to-night,  dear  brethren,  with  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Bishop  of  Long  Island,  who  will  speak  for  the 
diocese  over  which  he  presides. 


ADDRESS   OF   THE   RIGHT    REV.  A.  N.  LITTLEJOHN,  D.D. 

The  past  century  of  the  Church  in  this  State,  remarked 
Bishop  Littlejohn,  has  been  eloquently  reproduced  to-day. 
The  master-builders  of  our  ecclesiastical  life  ;  its  movements  ; 
its  schools  of  thought ;  its  alternations  of  success  and  failure  ; 
the  creation  of  five  dioceses  out  of  one,  together  with  the 
new  lines  of  development  thus  originated — all  have  been 
vividly  put  before  us.  The  duty  of  the  hour,  before  all  else, 
is  to  interpret  and  apply  the  lessons  they  teach.  Rich  as  the 
occasion  is  in  historic  interest,  it  should  be  equally  so  in  its 
practical  uses  ;  and  it  is  only  as  we  enter  into  both  that  we 
can  be  intelligently  grateful  to  the  mother  diocese,  whose 
loving  heart  has  called  her  children  about  her  for  the  pur- 
poses of  this  celebration. 

All  questions  of  the  hour  centre  in  this  :  What  have  we 
done?  What  do  we  mean  to  do  with  what  has  been  commit- 
ted to  our  keeping?  Granted  that  our  lineage  and  our  inheri- 
tance, our  gifts,  endowments,  and  opportunities,  are  what  we 
claim  ;  what  has  been  in  the  past,  what  is  likely  to  be  in  the 
future,  the  fruit  of  them  in  our  hands  ?  It  matters  little 
what  commemorative  dignity  and  splendor  may  be  thrown 
around  this  day;  the  only  thing  that  can  make  it  truly  great 
and  memorable,  is  the  answer  we  give  to  these  questions.  If 
we  may  not  be  proud  of  our  record,  certainly  we  need  not  be 
ashamed  of  it.  It  is  written  on  the  forefront  of  the  century, 
where  all  men  may  read  it.  It  witnesses  to  a  growth  which, 
when  rightly  viewed,  has  been  scarcely  less  than  marvellous. 
A  century  of  growth  for  the  Nation,  and  a  century  of  growth 
for  the  Church,  are  not  to  be  measured  by  the  same  tests. 
The  former  because  it  has  been  social,  political,  intellectual, 


120  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

industrial,  has  been  rapid  and  demonstrative.  Its  energies, 
methods,  results,  have  naturally  tended  to  the  surface,  and 
been  patent  to  all  eyes.  Whatever  harvests  it  has  reaped 
have  commanded  instant  recognition,  and  have  at  once  been 
rated  at  their  full  value.  The  latter,  on  the  other  hand,  be- 
cause belonging  largely  to  the  unseen,  the  supernatural,  has 
been  more  gradual  and  unobtrusive,  and  every  way  more  dif- 
ficult to  estimate.  The  popular  judgment  is  never  a  safe 
criterion  of  the  scope  and  momentum  of  the  Church's  work. 
It  seeks  what  it  does  not  find  ;  it  instinctively  forgets  that  a 
hundred  years  is  one  thing  for  the  Nation,  and  quite  another 
thing  for  the  Kingdom  of  God.  A  single  generation  or  even 
decade,  lost  to  the  economies  of  material  wealth  and  polit- 
ical development,  may  be  fatal  ;  whereas  to  the  economy 
of  grace  it  may  be  only  a  missing  pulse-beat  in  the  wide- 
sweeping,  endless  circulation  of  a  Divine  organism  that  counts 
a  thousand  years  as  one  day. 

In  dealing  with  the  growth  that  with  us  has  multiplied  the 
little  one  into  a  thousand,  it  is  not  enough  to  cite  statistics,  or 
appeal  to  outside  facts.  It  is  indeed  much  that  we  have  them 
abundantly  at  hand  to  prove  in  a  tangible  way  what  has  been 
done  ;  but  it  is  of  far  more  moment  to  be  able  to  show  that 
what  growth  we  have  had  has  consistently  embodied  and  duly 
exemplified  the  faith,  worship,  and  discipline  which  we  pro- 
fess to  regard  as  the  glory  and  strength  of  our  Apostolic  and 
Catholic  heritage.  It  is  much  that  we  can  point  to  an  increase 
of  nearly  IOO  per  cent,  in  the  last  twenty  years  in  our  clergy, 
our  confirmations,  communicants,  contributions,  and  perma- 
nent property,  and  even  to  a  greater  advance  in  the  moral  and 
social  influence  of  the  Church  ;  but  it  is  vastly  more  if  we  can 
truly  affirm  that  all  this  has  been  accomplished  really  in 
Christ's  name  and  in  Christ's  way.  Bulk,  numbers,  wealth, 
what  the  world  calls  power,  are  only  the  shifting,  often  delu- 
sive side  of  progress.  Its  heart  and  soul,  all  that  is  essen- 
tially vital  in  it,  are  to  be  found  only  in  loyalty  to  truth,  de- 
votion to  principle,  love  of  souls  for  whom  Christ  died,  and  in 
the  energies  which  they  have  awakened  and  directed.  Just 
this  in  the  main,  and  stript  of  its  accidents,  has  been  the  char- 


PROCEEDINGS  AT   ST.    THOMAS     CHURCH.  121 

acteristic  of  our  growth  in  the  century  past.  In  becoming 
more  catholic,  I  believe  we  have  not  become  less  evangelical. 
In  learning  to  encourage  and  to  exercise  more  liberty  of 
thought  and  action  in  all  things  lawful,  we  have  not  learned 
to  value  less  the  claims  of  all  duly  constituted  authority.  In 
seeking  to  bring  our  teaching  and  work  into  more  effective 
and  intelligent  sympathy  with  all  that  is  best  in  the  spirit  of 
the  Nineteenth  century,  we  have  not  as  a  whole  weakened  in 
our  traditional  regard  for  the  faith  once  delivered,  nor  in  our 
hereditary  attachment  to  the  old  paths.  Nor,  still  further, 
have  we  in  our  efforts  to  reconcile  Revealed  Truth,  as  em- 
bodied in  the  Church's  witness,  with  the  advances  of  modern 
knowledge,  fallen  away  into  temporizing  concessions  or  cow- 
ardly evasions. 

But  there  is  another  characteristic  of  our  growth  that  de- 
serves mention.  In  the  history  of  the  mother  Church  there 
has  been  one  period,  one  school  of  thought  and  work,  that 
towers  above  every  other  in  sacred  learning,  ecclesiastical 
wisdom,  and  steadfast,  intelligent  fidelity  to  the  spirit  and 
teaching  of  the  early  Church.  I  refer,  need  I  say,  to  the 
men  who  held  sway  in  the  Seventeenth  century — men  who 
by  what  they  said  and  did  sounded  the  battle-cry  and 
marked  out  the  lines  to  be  occupied  in  after  days,  and  espe- 
cially in  our  own  in  every  successful  conflict  with  Rome  or 
Puritanism  ;  men,  I  may  add,  too,  who  wrought  out,  as  it  had 
not  been  done  before,  and  as  it  has  not  been  done  since,  the 
principles  on  which  the  Church  will  have  to  rely  again,  and 
perhaps  more  than  ever  in  the  struggles  that  lie  before  her. 
It  were  idle  to  call  over  the  roll  of  those  names.  They  are 
graven  forever  on  the  Church's  memory,  and  are  upon  the 
tongues  of  all  who  teach,  and  in  the  minds  of  all  who  study 
the  Catholic  faith.  Now  it  is  in  the  mould  they  cast  that  our 
growth  on  the  whole  has  been  shaped,  our  life  built  up,  our 
work  done  ;  and  I  say  this  without  forgetting  or  underrating 
the  contributions  made  to  the  Church's  progress  in  this  land 
by  other  periods  or  other  schools  in  the  past  or  in  our  own 
day.  It  is  our  good  fortune — nay,  it  is  one  proof  of  the  gra- 
cious over-ruling  Providence  that  has  guided  our  steps — that 


122  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

we  have  been  so  richly  blessed  with  master-builders,  who 
knew  how  to  adapt  the  learning  and  principles  of  the  Seven- 
teenth century  to  the  circumstances  of  the  Nineteenth.  If 
the  Church  of  England  in  this  age  has  had  her  Wordsworth 
and  Hook  and  Harold  Browne,  her  Wilberforce  and  Mozley 
of  Oxford,  and  her  Benson  of  Canterbury,  so  have  we  had 
right  among  us  here  the  invincible  orthodoxy,  the  resolute 
energy,  the  luminous  foresight  of  Hobart,  the  balanced  piety 
and  remarkable  practical  wisdom  of  De  Lancey,  and  the  strong, 
clear  intellect,  the  disciplined,  carefully  massed  erudition  of 
Seabury.  And  how  the  list  might  be  lengthened  from  the 
living  as  well  as  the  dead  who,  having  wrought  wisely  and 
grandly  upon  the  fair  temple  of  our  Zion,  deserve  our  grateful 
remembrance  at  this  hour. 

To  this  source  as  much  as,  I  think  more  than  any  other,  is 
to  be  traced  that  deep,  strong,  always  discernible  drift  in  our 
corporate  ecclesiastical  life  which  has  fashioned,  as  with  the 
force  and  certainty  of  an  instinct,  our  higher  thinking  as  well 
as  our  practical  policy.  Hence,  more  than  from  anywhere 
else,  save  the  Spirit  of  God,  has  arisen,  I  believe,  the  influ- 
ence— I  had  almost  called  it  the  inspiration,  the  counsel  of 
wisdom,  the  power  of  a  sound  mind — which  has  kept  us  in 
the  ways  of  truth,  soberness,  and  moderation ;  saved  us  from 
dangerous,  perhaps  fatal  aberrations  in  these  times  of  tumult 
and  upheaval  when  so  much  of  Christendom  has  dragged  its 
anchors  and  floated  off  into  ultramontane  corruptions  or  sec- 
tarian dilutions  of  the  faith.  Our  history,  then,  in  the  century 
now  closed,  has  been  what  it  is  with  most  things  in  it  that 
give  us  joy  to-day  because  it  has  reproduced  in  large  measure, 
and  wisely  applied  under  the  greatly  changed  circumstances 
of  this  age,  the  theological  and  ecclesiastical  principles  pushed 
to  the  front  in  the  Seventeenth  century  ;  and  this  not  because 
these  principles  had  their  birth  in  that  century,  or  were  in 
any  sense  its  exclusive  property,  but  because  they  are  funda- 
mental to  the  faith  and  order  of  the  Body  of  Christ  in  all  the 
asres  of  its  life  from  first  to  last. 

And  now  let  me  speak  briefly  of  the  future.     The  past  is 
of  moment  to  us  chiefly  as  it  bears  on  what  we  are  to  be  and 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   ST.   THOMAS'   CHURCH.  123 

to  do.  I  may  not  indulge  in  speculative  suggestions  or  in- 
quiries, nor  outline  ideals,  nor  discuss  possibilities,  however 
inspiring  may  be  their  contemplation.  It  is  the  test  of  life 
that  it  begets  more  life.  It  is  the  quality  of  work  that  it 
creates  the  demand  for  more  work.  It  is  the  characteristic 
of  Christian  responsibility  that  it  knows  no  limit  short  of  the 
universal  spread  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  and  the  salvation  of 
all  to  whom  it  was  sent.  And  yet  the  occasion  must  confine 
our  view  to  life,  work,  duty,  as  they  present  themselves 
within  the   five  Dioceses — the  mother  and  the  four  daugh- 

o 

ters — represented  here  to-night. 

Keeping  in  mind  the  common  aim  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
I  would  speak  of  what  is  specially  required  of  us  for  the 
furtherance  of  that  aim,  and  generally,  of  interests  that,  for 
the  present,  seem  to  dominate  all  others  in  the  fields  com- 
mitted to  our  charge.  We  want  more  and  better  schools  for 
the  training  of  the  young — schools  that  without  antagonizing 
the  State  will  enable  us  to  counteract  the  perilous  tendencies 
of  an  exclusively  secular  training.  We  want  better  equipped 
and  more  effectively  administered  institutions  for  the  higher 
Academic  and  Theological  education.  We  want  more  concert 
of  action  in  promoting  a  Church  literature  that  shall  suitably 
stimulate  and  express  our  best  thought  and  scholarship.  We 
want  more  wisely  planned  or  more  vigorously  pushed  methods 
of  Church  extension  and  aggressive  Missionary  activity  that 
shall  put  us  fairly  abreast  of  the  increasing  multitudes  of  the 
indifferent  and  irreligious.  We  want  a  sounder,  more  intense 
organic  life ;  a  more  sympathetic,  compact,  energetic  fellow- 
ship among  these  five  Dioceses,  that  shall  help  to  cure  not 
only  the  individualism  of  individuals,  or  the  individualism  of 
parishes,  but  that  still  worse  disease  that  seems  to  be  growing 
upon  us — the  individualism  of  the  Dioceses  themselves,  the 
divinely  ordered  units  and  pivots  of  ecclesiastical  progress. 
I  may  not  discuss  generally  the  ways  and  means  for  meeting 
these  wants.  It  is  enough  that  I  allude  to  one  instrumentality 
now  dormant  among  us,  but  duly  authorized  and  easily  within 
our  reach.  I  believe  the  day  is  upon  us  when  a  closer  federa- 
tion and   union  of  these  dioceses  is  demanded.      I  believe 


124  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

that  they  ought  to  be  drawn  together  and  held  together  for 
common  work  by  a  more  vital  bond  than  now  exists,  call  it 
Federate  Council,  or  Provincial  Council,  or  anything  else  you 
please.  We  want  the  reality,  whatever  name  it  bears.  We 
want  the  added  force,  the  greater  concentration  of  motive 
power,  whatever  the  form  it  may  take.  And  I  believe  further 
that  both  policy  and  duty  should  lead  us  to  encourage  this 
venerable  and  beloved  mother  Diocese  to  take  the  lead  to 
which  she  is,  on  every  ground,  entitled  in  a  movement  of 
this  kind. 

Standing  now  amid  the  evening  shadows  of  this  centennial 
day,  and  facing  the  dawn  of  another  century,  God  give  us  the 
wisdom  to  be  as  men  of  understanding  rightly  discerning  the 
signs  of  the  times,  and  with  it  the  grace  and  strength  so  to 
quit  ourselves  in  this  our  day  and  generation  as  that  those 
who  shall  stand  in  our  places  in  obedience  to  a  call  such  as 
has  brought  us  here  to-night,  shall  be  able  to  say  of  us  that 
we  were  not  faithless  to  the  heritage  entrusted  to  us,  nor  al- 
together unprofitable  servants  in  the  vineyard  of  our  Lord 
and  our  Christ. 


SKETCHES    OF    THE    BISHOPS. 


THE   FIRST   BISHOP  OF  NEW  YORK. 

What  he  undertook  was  to  be  admired  as  glorious  ;  what  he  performed,  to 
be  commended  as  profitable  ;  and  wherein  he  failed  is  to  be  excused  as  pardon- 
able.— Thomas  Fuller. 

Samuel  PROVOOST,  the  first  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  of  New 
York,  and  the  third  (possibly  the  second)  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  in  America — Seabury,  of  Connecticut,  being 
the  first — was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York,  26th  February, 
1742.  He  was  the  eldest  son  of  John  and  Eve  Rutgers  Pro- 
voost.  His  ancestors  were  Huguenots,*  who  had  first  settled 
in  New  Amsterdam  in  1638.  Young  Provoost  was  one  of 
the  seven  graduates  of  King's,  now  Columbia  College,  at  its 

first  commencement  in  1758,  carrying  off  the  honors,  although 
the  youngest  of  his  class. f  In  the  summer  of  1761  he  sailed 
for  England,  and  in  November  of  the  same  year  entered  St. 
Peter's  College,  Cambridge.  He  soon  became  a  favorite  with 
the  master,  Dr.  Edmund  Law,  afterward  Bishop  of  Carlisle, 
and  the  father  of  Lord  Ellenborough,  and  two  English  bish- 
ops. John  Provoost  being  an  opulent  merchant,  his  son  en- 
joyed, in  addition  to  a  liberal  allowance,  the  advantage  of  an 
expensive  tutor  in  the  person  of  Dr.  John  Jebb,  a  man  of  pro- 
found learning,  and  a  zealous  advocate  of  civil  and  religious 

*  Some  of  the  early  settlers  at  Quebec  bearing  the  name  Prevost  and  Provost, 
were  from  St.  Aubin,  in  Bretagne,  Rouen,  in  Normandy,  and  from  Paris. —  Tan- 
quay's  Dictionaire  Gthie'alogique  des  Families  Canadiennes. 

f  His  classmates  were  the  Rev.  Joshua  Bloomer,  Judge  Isaac  Ogden,  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Canada  ;  Joseph  Reade,  of  New  Jersey,  Master  in  Chancery; 
Rudolph  Ritzema,  Lieutenant-Colonel  in  the  British  Army;  Col.  Philip  Van  Cort- 
landt,  of  the  American  Service,  and  Samuel  Verplanck,  one  of  the  Governors  of 
King's  College. 


128  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

liberty,  with  whom  he  corresponded  till  the  doctor's  death 
in  1786.  In  February,  1766,  Mr.  Provoost  was  admitted  to 
the  order  of  deacon  at  the  Chapel  Royal  of  St.  James  Palace, 
Westminster,  by  Dr.  Richard  Terrick,  Bishop  of  London. 
During  the  month  of  March  he  was  ordained  at  the  King's 
Chapel,  Whitehall,  by  Dr.  Edmund  Kean,  Bishop  of  Chester. 
In  St.  Mary's  Church,  Cambridge,  he  married,  on  June  8th 
of  the  same  year  (1766),  Maria,  daughter  of  Thomas  Bous- 
field,  a  rich  Irish  banker,  residing  on  his  beautiful  estate  of 
Lake  Lands,  near  Cork,  and  the  sister  of  his  favorite  class- 
mate.* The  young  clergyman  with  his  attractive  and  accom- 
plished wife  sailed  in  September  for  New  York,  and  in  De- 
cember he  became  an  assistant  minister  of  Trinity  Church, 
which  then  embraced  St.  George's  and  St.  Paul's,  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Auchmuty,  rector,  the  Rev.  John  Ogilvie,  and  the 
Rev.  Charles  Inglis,  assistant  ministers.  During  the  summer 
of  1769,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Provoost  visited  Mrs.  Bousfield  and 
her  son  on  her  estate  in  Ireland,  and  spent  some  months  in 
England,  and  on  the  Continent. 

Some  time  previous  to  the  commencement  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary War,  Mr.  Provoost's  connection  with  Trinity  Church 
was  dissolved.f  The  reasons  assigned  for  the  severance  of 
this  connection  were,  first,  that  a  portion  of  the  congrega- 
tion charged  him  with  not  being  sufficiently  evangelical  in  his 
preaching;  and,  second,  that  his  patriotic  views  of  the  then 
approaching  contest  with  the  mother-country  were  not  in 
accord  with  those  of  a  majority  of  the  parish.  Before  the 
spring  of  1774,  Mr.  Provoost  purchased  a  small  place  in 
Dutchess,  now  Columbia  County,  adjacent  to  the  estate  of 
his  friends,  Walter  and  Robert  Cambridge  Livingston,  who 
had  been  fellow-students  with  him  in  the  English  University, 

*  Provoost's  brother-in-law,  Benjamin  Bousfield,  afterward  a  member  of  the 
Irish  Parliament,  wrote  an  able  reply  to  Edmund  Burke's  celebrated  work  on  the 
French  Revolution,  which  was  published  in  London  in  1791. 

f  Dr.  Berrian  and  other  writers  are  wrong  in  giving  the  year  1770  as  the  date 
of  this  event.  From  endorsements  on  MS.  sermons  submitted  to  the  writer,  it  ap- 
pears that  Provoost  was  preaching  regularly  in  the  parish  church  and  chapels  as 
late  as  the  month  of  December,  1771.  It  is  probable  that  the  connection  was 
continued  beyond  this  date,  possibly  as  late  as  the  beginning  of  1774. 


SKETCHES   OF   THE   BISHOPS. 


129 


and  removed  there  with  his  family.  At  East  Camp,  as  his 
rural  retreat  was  called,  the  patriot  preacher  occupied  him- 
self with  literary  pursuits,  and  with  the  cultivation  of  his  farm 
and  garden.  He  was  an  ardent  disciple  of  the  Swedish  Lin- 
naeus, and  he  possessed,  for  that  period,  a  large  and  valuable 
library.  Provoost  was,  perhaps,  the  earliest  of  American  biblio- 
philes. Among  his  beloved  books  were  several  magnificent 
Baskervilles,  numerous  volumes  of  sermons,  and  other  writ- 
ings of  English  bishops,  including  the  scarce  octavo  edition 
of  the  poems  of  the  eccentric  Richard  Corbet,  of  whom  Pro- 
voost related  many  amusing  anecdotes;  a  rare  Venetian  illus- 
trated Dante  of  1547;  Rapin's  England,  in  five  noble  folios  ; 
a  collection  of  Americana  and  Elzeviriana,  and  not  a  few 
incunabula,  including 
a  Sweynheym  and 
Pannartz  imprint  of 
1470,  These  were 
chiefly  purchased 
while  a  student  at 
Cambridge,  and  con- 
tained his  armorial 
book-plate,  with  his 
name  engraved,  Sam- 
uel Provost.  It  was 
not  until  1769  that 
he  adopted  the  ad- 
ditional letter  which 
appears  in  his  later 
book-plate  and  sig- 
natures. 

While  in  the  en- 
joyment of  his  books 
and  flowers  and 
farm,  and  finding 
happiness  in  the  society  of  his  growing  family  and  his 
friends,  the  Livingstons,  and  far  away  from  "  the  clangor 
of  resounding  arms,"  Mr.  Provoost  occasionally  filled  the 
pulpits  of  some  of  the  churches  then  existing  in  that  part 
9 


\y%&mss>  ty%t7isov&£'. 


I30  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

of  the  diocese — at  Albany,  Catskill,  Hudson,  and  Pough- 
keepsie.  At  the  latter  place,  he  preached  the  consecra- 
tion sermon  at  Christ  Church,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Beardsley,  rec- 
tor, on  Christmas  Day,  1774.  In  the  following  year,  among 
his  literary  recreations  was  the  translation  of  favorite  hymns 
in  Latin,  French,  German,  and  Italian  ;  also  the  preparation 
of  an  exhaustive  index  to  the  elaborate  Historia  Plant  arum 
of  John  Baushin,  whom  he  styles  the  "  prince  of  botanists" 
on  a  fly-leaf  of  the  first  volume  of  this  work,  purchased  while 
at  Cambridge  University  in  1766.  To  the  year  1776  also 
belong  the  passages  appended  below,  which  are  written  on  the 
last  leaf  of  a  sermon  that  would  seem  to  have  been  delivered 
in  St.  Peter's   Church,  Albany.*     In   a  hitherto  unpublished 

*  In  times  of  impending  Calamity  and  distress,  when  the  liberties  of  America 
are  imminently  endangered  by  the  secret  machinations  and  open  assaults  of  an 
insidious  and  vindictive  administration,  it  becomes  the  indispensable  duty  of 
these  hitherto  free  and  happy  Colonies,  with  true  penitence  of  heart,  and  the 
most  reverent  Devotion,  publicly  to  acknowledge  the  over-ruling  providence  of 
God;  to  confess  and  deplore  our  offences  against  him,  and  to  supplicate  his  inter- 
position for  averting  the  threaten'd  danger,  and  prospering  our  strenuous  efforts 
in  the  Cause  of  Freedom,  Virtue,  and  Posterity. 

The  Congress,  therefore,  considering  the  warlike  preparations  of  the  British 
ministry  to  subvert  our  invaluable  rights  and  privileges,  and  to  reduce  us  by  fire 
and  sword,  by  the  savages  of  the  wilderness,  and  our  own  domestics,  to  the  most 
abject  and  ignominious  Bondage  :  desirous  at  the  same  time  to  have  people  of 
all  ranks  and  degrees,  duly  impressed  with  a  Solemn  sense  of  God's  superintend- 
ing Providence,  and  of  their  duty  devoutly  to  rely,  in  all  their  lawful  enterprises 
on  his  aid  and  direction  :  Do  earnestly  recommend,  that  friday,  the  seventeenth 
Day  of  May  next,  be  observed  by  the  said  Colonies,  as  a  day  of  Humiliation, 
Fasting  and  Prayer;  that  we  may  with  united  hearts  confess  and  bewail,  our  mani- 
fold sins  and  Transgressions,  and  by  a  Sincere  repentance  and  amendment  of 
Life,  appease  his  righteous  Displeasure  and  thro'  the  merits  and  mediation  of 
Jesus  Christ,  obtain  his  pardon  &  forgiveness.  Humbly  imploring  his  assist- 
ance to  frustrate  the  Cruel  purposes  of  our  unnatural  Enemies;  and  by  inclining 
their  hearts  to  justice  and  benevolence,  prevent  the  farther  effusion  of  kindred 
blood.  But  if  continuing  deaf  to  the  voice  of  reason  and  humanity,  and  inflexibly 
bent  on  Desolation  and  war,  they  constrain  us  to  repel  their  hostile  invasions  by 
open  resistance,  that  it  may  please  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  the  God  of  Armies,  to 
animate  our  officers  and  Soldiers  with  invincible  fortitude ;  to  guard  and  protect 
them  in  the  day  of  Battle,  and  to  crown  the  Continental  arms  by  sea  and  land 
with  victory  and  Success.  Earnestly  beseeching  him  to  bless  our  Civil  rulers  and 
the  representatives  of  the  People,  in  their  Several  Assemblies  and  Conventions; 
to  preserve  and  strengthen  their  union,  to  inspire  them  with  an  ardent  and  dis- 


SKETCHES   OF   THE   BISHOPS.  I3I 

letter,  without  date,  addressed  to  his  brother-in-law,  Bous- 
field,  the  patriot  preacher  wrote  one  hundred  and  eleven  years 
ago :  "  I  received  with  pleasure  the  books  you  sent  me  by 
Captain  Lawrence.  They  afford  me  the  most  agreeable 
amusement  in  my  Country  retirement.  Dalrymple  has  set 
the  period  he  treats  of  in  a  clearer  light  than  any  person 
before  him,  and  made  some  most  interesting  discoveries  un- 
known to  previous  historians.  Lord  Chesterfield  had  always 
the  character  of  one  of  the  politest  writers  and  best-bred  per- 
sons of  the  age.  His  letters  show  him,  at  the  same  time,  the 
tenderest  of  fathers  and  most  amiable  of  men. 

"  I  suppose  you  interest  yourself  somewhat  in  the  fate  of 
this  Country,  and  am  therefore  sorry  that  my  distance  from 
town  and  the  uncertainty  of  opportunities  for  Ireland  puts  it 
out  of  my  power  to  write  anything  that  you  will  not  be  ac- 
quainted with  when  you  receive  my  letters.  The  late  ini- 
quitous acts  of  Parliament,  and  the  sanguinary  measures 
adopted  to  enforce  them  have  induced  the  various  Provinces 
to  unite  firmly  for  their  common  defence.  Each  Province 
has  its  separate  Congress  intended  to  enforce  resolves,  and 
to  be  subject  to  the  control  of  the  Grand  Continental  Con- 
gress, which  sits  at  Philadelphia.     An  Association  has  been 

interested  love  of  their  Country;  to  give  wisdom  and  stability  to  their  Councils  ; 
and  direct  them  to  the  most  efficacious  measures  for  establishing  the  rights  of 
America,  on  the  most  honourable  and  permanent  basis — that  he  would  be  gra- 
ciously pleased  to  bless  all  the  people  of  these  Colonies,  with  health  and  plenty, 
and  grant  that  a  Spirit  of  incorruptible  patriotism  and  of  pure  and  undefiled 
religion  may  universally  prevail ;  and  this  Continent  be  speedily  restored  to  the 
blessing  of  Peace  and  Liberty,  and  enabled  to  transmit  them  inviolate  to  the 
latest  posterity. — and  it  is  recommended  to  Christians  of  all  denominations,  to 

assemble  for  public  worship,  and  abstain  from  servile  labour  on  the  said  Day. 

Congress 
march  16.    1776. 

May  that  being  who  is  powerful  to  save,  and  in  whose  hands  is  the  fate  of 
nations,  look  down  with  an  eye  of  tender  pity  and  Compassion  upon  the  whole 
of  the  united  Colonies, — may  he  continue  to  smile  upon  their  Councils  and 
Arms,  and  crown  them  with  success,  whilst  employed  in  the  Cause  of  Virtue  and 
of  mankind — may  every  part  of  this  wide-extended  continent,  thro'  his  divine 
favour,  be  restored  to  more  than  their  former  lustre,  and  once  happy  state,  and 
have  peace,  liberty,  and  safety,  secured  upon  a  Solid,  permanent  and  lasting 
foundation. 


I32  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

formed,  and  signed  by  an  incredible  number  of  people,  to 
support  the  measures  of  these  various  Congresses,  never  to 
submit  to  Slavery,  but  to  venture  our  lives  and  property  in 
defence  of  our  Liberty  and  Country.  Gentlemen  of  ap- 
proved abilities  are  appointed  to  take  command  of  our 
forces.  As  Colonel  Hall  has,  I  think,  served  in  America 
and  may  be  able  to  give  you  their  characters,  I  shall  mention 
a  few  of  them.  Colonel  Washington,  a  Virginia  gentleman 
of  considerable  property  and  respectability  who  behaved 
very  gallantly  in  many  engagements  of  the  last  war,  is  ap- 
pointed commander-in-chief  of  our  army.  Colonel  Lee  has 
given  up  his  half  pay  and  accepted  a  commission  as  Major- 
General  in  the  American  Service.  Horatio  Gates,  formerly,  I 
think,  a  Major  in  the  English  Army,  is  appointed  Adjutant- 
General.  Captain  Montgomery,  an  Irishman,  brother  of  the 
Countess  of  Raneleigh,  and  our  near  neighbor  in  the  country, 
is  made  a  Brigadier-General,  and  Fleming,  formerly  adjutant 
of  the  Sixteenth  Regiment  which  was  quartered  a  few  years 
ago  at  Cork,  is  a  Lieutenant-Colonel.  The  other  general 
officers  are  mostly  of  the  country. 

"  There  are  so  many  thousands  in  this  wide  extended  con- 
tinent determined  not  to  survive  the  loss  of  their  liberties, 
that  there  is  little  probability  the  English  will  get  the  better 
in  this  impolitic  contest,  the  outcome  of  which,  I  think  they 
have  greater  reason  to  fear  than  the  Americans,  for  our  num- 
bers increase  so  rapidly  and  our  Country  supplies  us  so  fast, 
that  we  must  naturally  rise  superior  in  the  end  over  any 
present  difficulties,  whereas  if  England  once  sinks,  she  will 
find  it  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  emerge  again. 

"  General  Gage  has  had  two  engagements  with  the  people 
of  New  England  in  which  his  men  were  so  roughly  handled 
that  they  have  thought  proper  to  remain  quiet  for  some 
weeks  past.  It  is  reported  that  there  were  about  a  thousand 
officers  and  soldiers  killed  in  the  last  engagement,  in  which 
the  loss  of  the  Provincials  was  inconsiderable." 

Mr.  Provoost  was  proposed  as  a  delegate  to  the  Provincial 
Congress,  which  he  declined,  as  also  an  invitation  to  become 
Chaplain  of  the  Convention  which  met  in  1777,  and  framed 


SKETCHES   OF  THE   BISHOPS.  1 33 

the  Constitution  of  the  State  of  New  York.  About  the  same 
period  he  deemed  it  in  no  wise  derogatory  to,  or  inconsistent 
with,  his  clerical  character  to  bear  arms  against  the  enemies 
of  his  country.  After  the  British  burned  Esopus  on  the 
Hudson,  he  joined  his  neighbors,  the  Livingstons  and  others, 
in  their  pursuit.  Mr.  Provoost  was  also  proffered,  in  1777,  the 
rectorship  of  St.  Michael's  Church,  Charleston,  S.  C,  and  in 
1782,  that  of  King's  Chapel,  Boston,  where  his  patriotic  prin- 
ciples and  practice  were  strong  recommendations,  but  he  de- 
clined both  calls,  on  the  ground  that  he  was  unwilling  to 
avail  himself  of  his  politics  for  acting  toward  his  brethren 
who  differed  from  him,  in  a  manner  that  might  be  imputed 
to  mercenary  views,  and  an  ungenerous  desire  of  rising  on 
their  ruin. 

In  another  undated  letter,  addressed  to  a  friend  in  New 
York  and  written  about  the  close  of  the  war,  Mr.  Provoost 
says,  "As  you  sometimes  amuse  yourself  with  the  different 
systems  of  theologists,  I  recommend  to  your  perusal  Dr. 
Law's  Theory  of  Religion,  which  contains  many  judicious  ob- 
servations, and  is  written  with  a  freedom  and  impartiality 
which  I  wish  was  more  common  than  it  is  among  divines  of 
all  professions.  The  theory  (that  we  are  in  a  progressive 
state  and  that  we  have  advanced  in  religious  knowledge  in 
proportion  to  our  improvements  in  the  arts  and  sciences)  is 
a  very  pleasing  one,  and  except  a  few  retrogrations  which  he 
accounts  for  ingeniously  enough,  very  well  supported.  The 
work,  I  think,  merits  being  more  known  than  it  is  in  our 
American  world.  But  perhaps  the  very  great  obligations  I 
am  under  to  its  author  may  make  me  partial  in  its  favor. 

"  Colonel  Peter  Livingston  acquaints  us  that  he  is  to  set 
off  for  town  to-morrow.  I  am  going  to  the  Manor  to  trouble 
him  with  a  few  lines  to  inform  you  that  we  have  received  the 
articles  you  sent  by  the  Judge's  sloop,  and  to  return  Basford 
Abbey,  for  the  use  of  which  I  am  much  obliged  to  your  son 
David.  You  cannot  expect  much  news  from  our  situation. 
I  have  been  prevented  from  going  to  Nine  Partners  by  an 
ugly  wound  my  right-hand  man,  Master  Hanlet,  gave  himself 
in  the  foot  with  an  axe,  as  he  was  cutting  wood.     The  chil- 


134  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

dren  are  all  well,  but  Maria  is  poorly.  If  the  farm  is  not  yet 
advertised,  I  really  think  it  would  be  advisable  to  mention 
it  as  for  sale,  as  well  as  to  be  let.  Mr.  Livingston  will  be 
able,  without  doubt,  to  put  you  in  the  way  of  sending  up  the 
money  that  you  are  to  receive  for  me." 

After  the  colonies  had  gained  their  independence  and  New 
York  had  been  evacuated  by  the  British  and  their  Loyalist 
allies,  Mr.  Provoost  was  unanimously  elected  rector  of  Trinity 
Church,  January  13,  1784,  and  immediately  removed  with  his 
family  to  the  city,  and  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office, 
preaching  his  first  sermon  on  the  Sunday  following  from  the 
text,  "  Behold,  how  good  and  how  pleasant  it  is  for  brethren 
to  dwell  together  in  unity !  "  It  so  happens  that  the  joyous 
event  was  described  to  the  writer  in  his  youth  by  a  venerable 
and  ardent  patriot  who  was  present,  and  who  said  :  "  It  was  a 
glorious  occasion,  and  many  friends  of  their  Country  met  that 
day  for  the  first  time  in  years.  There  were  no  rascally  Tories 
there  that  morning."  The  rector  of  Trinity  received  many 
other  honorable  marks  of  the  high  esteem  in  which  he  was 
then,  and  always,  held  by  his  Whig  contemporaries. 

Before  the  close  of  the  year  (1784)  Mr.  Provoost  was  made 
a  member  of  the  Board  of  Regents  of  the  University,  and 
when  the  Continental  Congress  removed  from  Trenton  to 
New  York,  he  was,  in  November,  1785,  chosen  as  their  chap- 
lain. In  the  summer  of  1786  he  was  selected  by  the  Dio- 
cesan Convention,  which  met  at  that  time,  as  first  Bishop  of 
New  York.  The  choice  seems  to  have  been  made  by  a  sim- 
ple resolution,  "  Resolved,  That  the  Reverend  Mr.  Provoost 
be  recommended  for  Episcopal  Consecration."  There  is  no 
record  of  a  ballot.*  Three  weeks  later  he  received  from  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity. 
In  November  of  the  same  year  Dr.  Provoost  proceeded  to 
England   in  company  with  his  friend,   Dr.  William  White. 

*  The  testimonials  of  Dr.  Provoost,  as  Bishop-elect  of  New  York  ;  Dr.  Will- 
iam White,  as  Bishop-elect  of  Pennsylvania  ;  and  Dr.  David  Griffith,  as  Bishop- 
elect  of  Virginia,  were  signed  by  the  members  of  the  General  Convention  held 
at  Wilmington,  Del.  (of  which  Convention  Dr.  Provoost  was  President)  on  the 
nth  of  October,  1786. — BerriarCs  Sketch  of  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  1847. 


SKETCHES   OF   THE   BISHOPS.  1 35 

They  arrived  in  London  on  Wednesday,  the  29th  of  that 
month,  and  after  various  preliminaries  had  been  duly  settled, 
including  their  presentation  to  the  primate  by  John  Adams, 
the  American  Minister,*  they  were  consecrated  in  the  chapel 
of  Lambeth  Palace,  February  4,  1787,  by  Dr.  John  Moore, 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Dr.  William  Markham,  Arch- 
bishop of  York,  Dr.  Charles  Moss,  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells, 
and  Dr.  John  Hinchcliff,  Bishop  of  Peterborough,  participat- 
ing in  the  ceremonial.  It  has  been  claimed  that,  as  senior 
presbyter  and  also  senior  in  years,  Provoost  was  consecrated 
first.  While  it  would  be  pleasant  to  assign  this  honor  to 
New  York,  it  would  appear  that  it  properly  belongs  to  Penn- 
sylvania, the  weight  of  the  evidence  being  in  favor  of  Dr. 
White's  just  claim  to  that  distinction. f  On  the  following 
day  the  bishops  left  London  for  Falmouth,  which  was 
reached  in  five  days.  Detained  by  contrary  winds,  they  at 
length  embarked  on  the  18th,  reaching  New  York  on  the 
afternoon  of  Easter  Sunday,  April  8th,  after  a  long  and  tem- 
pestuous passage,  during  which  Dr.  Provoost  was  so  ill  that 
for  several  days  it  was  supposed  he  would  die. 

*  Adams  was  particularly  polite  and  cordial  to  the  bishops  elect,  notwithstand- 
ing his  being  the  author  of  the  following  lines  :  "  If  Parliament  could  tax  us  they 
could  establish  the  Church  of  England  with  all  its  creeds,  articles,  tests,  cere- 
monies, and  tithes,  and  prohibit  all  other  churches  as  conventicles  and  schism- 
shops." —  Works,  vol.  x.,  p.  287. 

f  Dr.  Samuel  Seabury,  of  Connecticut,  the  first  bishop  of  the  American  Church, 
meeting  with  obstacles  and  objections  to  his  consecration  from  the  English 
bishops,  proceeded  to  Scotland  where  he  was  consecrated  at  St.  Andrews  by 
three  bishops  of  the  Scottish  Episcopal  Church,  November  14,  17S4.  Chaplain- 
General  Gleig,  of  the  British  Army,  whose  father  was  a  Scottish  Bishop  (1753— 
1S39),  in  a  letter  to  the  author  of  this  paper,  dated  March  10,  1886,  says  :  "  I  am 
glad  to  learn  that  you  are  engaged  in  a  work  which  cannot  fail  to  interest  very 
many  readers  both  in  America  and  in  England.  The  rise  and  growth  of  a  Church 
in  a  nation,  or  any  portion  of  a  nation,  which  has  expanded  like  the  United 
States,  is  perhaps  the  most  important  theme  in  the  history  of  the  nation  itself. 
And  when  I  add  that  my  father  played  a  considerable  part  in  getting  Bishop  Sea- 
bury  consecrated  when  sent  out  on  his  great  mission,  you  will  see  that  something 
more  than  mere  love  of  antiquarian  research  will  carry  me  through  the  perusal  of 
your  promised  volume."  It  may  be  added  that  this  venerable  man  and  well-known 
writer,  before  he  entered  the  ministry,  fought  with  Wellington  in  Spain  nearly  four- 
score years  ago,  and  was  severely  wounded  in  the  battle  of  New  Orleans. 


136 


CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 


Bishop  Provoost  immediately  resumed  his 
duties  as  rector  of  Trinity  parish,  the  two  posi- 
tions, in  those  primitive  times,  being  filled  by 
the  same  person.  He  was  one  of  the  Trustees 
of  Columbia  College,  appointed  by  act  of  legis- 
lature April  13,  1787,  reviving  the  original  char- 
ter of  that  institution.  Two  years  later,  in  the 
organization  of  a  new  Congress  under  the  pres- 
ent constitution,  the  bishop  was  elected  Chap- 
lain of  the  United  States  Senate.  After  his 
inauguration  as  the  first  President  of  the 
United  States,  Washington  proceeded  with 
the  whole  assemblage  on  foot  from  the  spot 
now  marked  by  his  statue  in  Wall  Street,  to 
St.  Paul's  Chapel,  where,  in  the  presence  of 
Vice-President  Adams,  Chancellor  Livingston, 
Secretary  Jay,  Secretary  Knox,  Baron  Steuben, 
Hamilton,  and  other  distinguished  citizens, 
Bishop  Provoost  read  prayers  suited  to  the 
occasion.  So  closed  the  inauguration  cere- 
monies of  General  Washington.  The  first  con- 
secration in  which  Provoost  took  part  was  that 
of  the  Rev.  Thomas  John  Claggett  for  the 
Church  of  the  Diocese  of  Maryland,  being  the 
earliest  of  that  order  of  the  ministry  conse- 
crated in  the  United  States.  It  occurred  at 
Trinity  Church,  September  17,  1792,  during  a 
session  of  the  General  Convention.  As  the 
presiding  bishop  Dr.  Provoost  was  the  con- 
secrator,  Bishops  White  of  Pennsylvania,  Sea- 
bury  of  Connecticut,  and  Madison  of  Virginia,* 
joining  in  the  historic  ceremony  and  uniting 
the  Succession  of  the  Anglican  and  Scottish 
episcopate;  his  last  act  in  conferring  the  epis- 

*  Dr.  James  Madison  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Virginia 
in  the  chapel  of  Lambeth  Palace,  September  19,  1790.  He 
was  the  third  and  last  bishop  of  the  American  Church  conse- 
crated by  the  bishops  of  the  Anglican  Church. 


SKETCHES   OF  THE   BISHOPS.  1 37 

copate  was  in  joining  with  Bishop  White,  as  consecrator,  and 
Bishop  Jarvis  of  Connecticut,  in  the  imposition  of  hands  at 
the  consecration  of  the  Rev.  John  Henry  Hobart  for  the 
Diocese  of  New  York,  and  the  Rev.  Alexander  Viets  Gris- 
wold  of  the  Eastern  Diocese,  in  Trinity  Church,  May  29, 
1811. 

Dr.  Provoost's  first  ordination  was  the  admitting,  July 
17,  1787,  in  St.  George's  Chapel,  New  York,  as  deacon, 
Richard  Henry  Moore  ;  his  last,  the  admission  as  priest  of 
John  Henry  Hobart  in  Trinity  Church  in  April,  1801.  The 
first  corner-stone  laid  by  the  bishop  was  at  the  rebuilding  of 
Trinity  Church,  August  21,  1788;  the  last  that  of  the  present 
St.  Mark's  Church  in  the  Bowery,  April  25,  1795.  These  edi- 
fices, when  ready  for  worship,  were  the  first  and  the  last  conse- 
crated by  him. 

A  special  meeting  of  the  corporation  of  Trinity  parish  was 
held  at  the  house  of  Bishop  Provoost,  No.  53  Nassau  Street, 
on  December  20,  1799,  on  an  occasion  when  the  country  was 
plunged  in  the  deepest  grief  by  the  news  of  the  death  of 
Washington.  The  vestry  were  called  together  to  give  ex- 
pression to  their  sorrow.  The  record  on  their  minutes  from 
the  pen  of  the  bishop,  is  beautiful  for  its  simple  brevity. 
"  Ordered,  That  in  consideration  of  the  death  of  Lieutenant- 
General  George  Washington  the  several  churches  belonging 
to  this  corporation  be  put  in  mourning." 

Mrs.  Provoost  died  after  a  long  and  lingering  illness 
August  18,  1799,  which,  with  other  domestic  bereavements 
and  declining  health,  induced  the  bishop  to  resign  the  rector- 
ship of  Trinity  Church,  September  28th  of  the  following 
year,  and  his  bishopric  on  September  3,  1801.  His  resigna- 
tion was  not  accepted  by  the  House  of  Bishops,  by  whom 
consent  was,  however,  given  to  the  consecration  of  Dr.  Ben- 
jamin Moore  as  an  assistant  bishop.  He  was  subject  to 
apoplectic  attacks,  and  from  one  of  these  he  died  suddenly, 
Wednesday  morning,  September  6,  181 5,  aged  seventy-three 
years  and  six  months.*     His  funeral  at  Trinity  was  numer- 

*  Died  suddenly  this  morning  in  the  seventy-fourth  year  of  his  age,  the  Right 


138  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

ously  attended.  The  sermon  was  delivered  by  the  Rev. 
William  Harris,  rector  of  St.  Mark's  Church,  and  the  place  of 
his  interment  was  the  family  vault  in  Trinity  churchyard. 

In  person  Bishop  Provoost  was  above  medium  height. 
His  countenance  was  round  and  full  and  highly  intellectual.* 
He  was  stately,  self-possessed,  and  dignified  in  manner,  pre- 
senting, in  the  picturesque  dress  of  that  day,  an  imposing 
appearance.  He  was  a  fine  classical  scholar,  and  thoroughly 
versed  in  ecclesiastical  history  and  church  polity.  He  was 
learned  and  benevolent  and  inflexibly  conscientious  ;  fond  of 
society  and  social  life.  He  was  a  moderale  Churchman. 
Under  his  administration  as  rector,  for  seventeen  years,  of 
Trinity,  the  church  was  rebuilt  on  the  same  site,  but  on  a 
much  larger  and  more  imposing  scale.  During  his  episcopate 
of  fourteen  years  the  Church  did  not  advance  as  rapidly  as 
during  the  same  period  under  some  of  his  successors.  It 
must  not,  however,  be  forgotten  that  those  were  days  of 
difficulties  and  depression  in  the  Church,  and  that  the  people 
of  Pennsylvania  threatened  to  throw  their  bishop  into  the 
Delaware  River,  when  he  returned  from  England  in  1787. 
While  it  cannot  be  claimed  that  Provoost  is  among  those 
"  upon  the  adamant  of  whose  fame  time  beats  without  in- 
jury," or  that  he  should  rank  with  those  eminent  founders  of 


Rev.  Samuel  Provoost,  D.  D.,  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  State 
of  New  York. 

As  among  such  a  number  of  relations  and  so  long  a  list  of  friends,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  send  particular  invitations,  without  some,  tho'  involuntary,  omissions,  the 
friends  and  relatives  of  Mr.  Colden,  and  generally  the  friends  of  the  Church,  are 
hereby  invited  to  attend  the  funeral  of  the  bishop  from  his  late  residence,  No.  261 
Greenwich  Street,  to-morrow  afternoon  at  five  o'clock. — Evening  Post,  Wednes- 
day, September  6,  1815. 

*  Among  a  most  interesting  group  of  portraits  of  rectors  of  Trinity,  including 
the  first  and  the  last,  in  the  vestry-room  of  Trinity  Chapel,  there  are  several  of 
great  artistic  excellence  and  value.  There  is  to  be  seen  a  particularly  fine  picture, 
by  Copley,  of  Dr.  John  Ogilvie  ;  another  by  Inman,  of  Bishop  Moore,  and  the 
admirable  portrait,  by  Benjamin  West,  of  Bishop  Provoost,  from  which  the  front- 
tispiece  of  this  volume  is  engraved.  A  good  copy  of  the  painting  is  in  the 
gallery  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society — the  gift  of  Cadwallader  D.  Colden,  the 
bishop's  son-in-law.  Another  portrait  of  Provoost  is  in  the  possession  of  the  Bishop 
of  Western  New  York. 


SKETCHES   OF   THE   BISHOPS.  1 39 

the  American  Church,  Seabury  and  White,  or  with  the  epoch- 
makers  Hobart  and  Whittingham,  it  may  with  confidence  be 
asserted  that  for  elegant  scholarship  Bishop  Provoost  had  no 
peer  among  his  American  contemporaries.  To  his  polished 
discourses  he  gave  the  greatest  care.  They  were  characterized 
by  force  and  felicity  of  diction,  if  not  rising  to  the  rank  of  the 
highest  order  of  pulpit  eloquence.  So  indifferent  was  he  to 
literary  distinction  that  I  cannot  discover  that  this  faithful 
and  diligent  student  ever  printed  a  single  discourse  or  brochure 
of  any  description.  He  translated  Tasso's  "Jerusalem  De- 
livered," for  which  congenial  work  he  found  ample  leisure  on 
his  Dutchess  County  farm.  It  was  never  given  to  the  world, 
nor  any  of  his  occasional  poems  in  English.,  French,  and  Ger- 
man of  which  examples  are  in  the  writer's  possession.  He 
conversed  freely  with  Steuben  and  Lafayette  in  their  own 
languages  and  had  several  Italian  correspondents.  He  was 
the  trusted  friend  of  Washington,  John  Adams,  Jay,  and  Ham- 
ilton, one  of  whose  sons  was  believed  to  be  the  last  survivor 
of  all  who  enjoyed  a  personal  acquaintance  with  the  bishop 
and  had  sat  at  his  hospitable  board  in  the  Greenwich  Street 
residence  where  he  died.  There,  and  in  his  previous  place  of  resi- 
dence, corner  of  Nassau  and  Fair  Streets,  the  bishop  gathered 
around  him  at  his  weekly  dinner-parties  most  of  the  prominent 
men  of  the  city,  including  Dr.  J.  H.  Livingston  of  the  Dutch 
and  Dr.  John    Rodgers*  of  the  Presbyterian  Churches.     In 

*  Though  Dr.  Provoost  had  probably  little  sympathy  with  the  views  and  feel- 
ings of  most  other  denominations  of  Christians,  his  general  courtesy  was  never 
affected  by  any  considerations  merely  denominational.  For  instance,  he  was  in  very 
agreeable,  and  I  believe  intimate,  social  relations  with  most  of  the  clergymen  of 
the  Presbyterian  and  Reformed  Dutch  Churches  ;  and  I  suspect  he  rarely  made  a 
dinner-party  but  some  of  them  were  among  his  guests.  An  Episcopal  clergyman 
from  Ireland  had  come  to  this  country,  and  I  believe,  through  the  bishop's  in- 
fluence, had  obtained  employment,  both  as  a  teacher  and  as  a  preacher,  in  St. 
Anne's   Church,  Brooklyn.     As    the   bishop    was    about  to  ordain  one  or  more 

persons  to  the  ministry,  he  invited  this  Mr.  W to  preach  on  the  occasion.    Dr. 

Beach,  the  bishop's  assistant  minister,  sent  invitation  to  Dr.  Livingston,  Dr. 
Rodgers,  and  some  other  of  the  ministers  of  the  city,  not  connected  with  the  Episco- 
pal Church,  to  be  present.  The  Irish  parson  took  it  into  his  head  to  magnify 
his  office  that  day  to  a  very  bold  defence  of  the  Doctrine  of  Apostolic  Succession, 
involving  rather  a  stern  rebuke  to  those  whom  he  regarded  as  preaching  without 


140  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

England  he  had  enjoyed  the  distinction  of  an  acquaintance 
with  Dr.  Johnson  and  the  celebrated  John  Wilkes,  whose 
grandniece  married  the  bishop's  grandson,  David  Cadwallader 
Colden,  and  of  frequently  listening  to  Lord  Chatham  and 
other  illustrious  public  men  of  that  period.* 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Diocesan  Convention  held  after 
Bishop  Provoost's  death,  his  successor,  Dr.  Moore,  having  fol- 
lowed him  in  February,  1816,  Dr.  Hobart  said  of  our  first 
bishop,  Integer  vitcs,  salerisque  pnriis — "  To  the  benevolence 
and  urbanity  that  marked  all  his  intercourse  with  the  clergy 
and,  indeed,  every  social  relation,  there  is  strong  and  uni- 
versal testimony,"  and  then  added  the  words  of  Bishop  White 
in  regard  to  his  official  and  personal  intimacy  with  the  de- 
ceased bishop,  calling  it  a  sacred  relation  "  between  two  per- 

any  authority.  Though  it  is  not  likely  that  the  bishop  dissented  from  his  views, 
he  felt  that  it  was  at  least  an  apparent  discourtesy  to  his  friends  who  were  present 
at  the  service,  and  he  was  evidently  not  a  little  annoyed  by  it.  Old  Dr.  Rodgers,  in 
speaking  of  it  afterwards,  shrewdly  remarked,  "  I  wonder  from  what  authority 
the  bishop  derived  his  baptism"  referring  to  the  fact  that  he  had  been  baptized 
by  Dominie  Du  Bois  in  the  Dutch  Church. — Sprague's  Annals  of  the  American 
Pulpit,  vol.  v.,  pp.  245,  New  York,  1855. 

*For  much  of  the  material  used  in  this  monograph  the  writer  is  indebted  to  a 
venerable  friend  of  his  early  youth,  who  was  a  frequent  guest  at  his  father's  table. 
From  the  handsome  old  man  of  four  score  and  ten,  with  his  rich  stores  of 
memory,  the  writer  heard  many  particulars  of  Bishop  Provoost  and  his  contem- 
poraries. By  the  bishop  he  had  been  presented  to  Washington,  and  he  was 
present  at  his  inauguration,  the  concluding  ceremonies  of  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
occurred  in  St.  Paul's  Church.     Daniel  Burhans  (1763-1854),  the  person  of  whom 


the  writer  speaks,  was  the  last  survivor  of  those  who  were  ordained  by  Bishop 
Seabury,  and  he  was  well  acquainted  with  almost  all  the  early  American  bishops, 
including  White,  Madison,  Moore,  Bass,  Hobart,  Claggett,  Griswold,  and  Ravens- 
croft.  He  was  a  delegate  to  several  General  Conventions,  was  in  the  ministry 
over  half  a  century,  and  preached  in  St.  Paul's  Church,  Poughkeepsie,  where  he 
resided  for  many  years,  at  the  age  of  eighty-nine.  Two  interesting  letters  written 
by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Burhans  (D.  D.'s  were  not  so  abundant  in  those  days),  de- 
scriptive of  his  friends,  Bishops  Seabury  and  Jarvis  of  Connecticut,  may  be  seen  in 
Sprague's  Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit.  The  writer  is  also  indebted  to  the 
Rev.  S.  H.  Weston,  D.D.,  for  the  perusal  of  a  number  of  Bishop's  Provoost's 
MS.  sermons,  and  to  the  Rev.  Drs.  Dix,  Eigenbrodt  and  Seabury  for  data  kindly 
contributed. 


SKETCHES   OF   THE   BISHOPS.  141 

sons,  who  under  the  appointment  of  a  Christian  Church  had 
been  successfully  engaged  together  in  obtaining  for  it  succes- 
sion to  the  apostolic  office  of  the  episcopacy,  who  in  the 
subsequent  exercise  of  that  episcopacy  had  jointly  labored 
in  all  the  ecclesiastical  business  which  has  occurred  among 
us,  and  who  through  the  whole  of  it  never  knew  a  word  or 
even  a  sensation,  tending  to  personal  dissatisfaction  or  dis- 
union. 

"  The  character  of  Bishop  Provoost  is  one  which  the  en- 
lightened Christian  will  estimate  at  no  ordinary  standard. 
The  generous  sympathies  of  his  nature  created  in  him  a  cor- 
dial concern  in  whatever  affected  the  interests  of  his  fellow- 
creatures.  Hence  his  beneficence  was  called  into  almost 
daily  exercise,  and  his  private  charities  were  often  beyond 
what  was  justified  by  his  actual  means.  In  the  relations  of 
husband  and  parent  he  exhibited  all  the  kindly  and  endear- 
ing affections  which  ennoble  our  species.  As  a  patriot,  he 
was  exceeded  by  none.  As  a  scholar,  he  was  deeply  versed 
in  classical  lore,  and  in  the  records  of  Ecclesiastical  History 
and  Church  Polity.  To  a  very  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
Hebrew  he  added  a  profound  acquaintance  with  the  Greek, 
Latin,  French,  German,  Italian,  and  other  languages.  He 
made  considerable  progress  also  in  the  natural  and  physical 
sciences,  of  which  botany  was  his  favorite  branch." 


C/j^ 


142  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 


THE   SECOND   BISHOP    OF   NEW   YORK. 

Benjamin  Moore  was  born  at  Newtown,  Long  Island,  on 
the  1 6th  of  October,  1748.  This  rare  historic  interest,  there- 
fore, belongs  to  his  life,  that  its  childhood  and  youth  were 
spent  in  our  colonial  days,  while  his  manhood  and  age  were 
devoted  to  religious  service  in  our  republic.  In  the  critical 
years  of  transition  from  the  old  to  the  new  order,  the  country 
had  no  greater  need  than  that  of  a  pure,  able,  and  earnest 
clergy  in  its  metropolitan  city.  The  supply  of  leaders  with 
radical  ideas  was  larger  than  the  nation  required.  The  men 
who  were  especially  wanted  were  those  who  had  learned  from 
the  past,  and  were  conservatively  busy  in  the  present ;  com- 
manding universal  respect,  and  building  foundations  quietly. 
A  man  for  his  time  was  found  when  Mr.  Moore  began  his 


ministry  in  New  York,  two  years  before  the  Declaration  of 
Independence. 

His  earlier  history,  therefore,  becomes  a  matter  of  inter- 
esting inquiry.  He  had  an  elder  brother,  who  inherited  the 
paternal  estate  at  Newtown,  and  whose  descendants  continue 
to  live  on  the  property  to  this  day.  Another  brother,  Will- 
iam, studied  medicine,  and  became  one  of  the  most  eminent 
physicians  of  New  York,  in  the  early  part  of  the  century. 

Benjamin  was  sent  to  school  at  New  Haven,  where  he 
had  the  advantages  for  instruction  that  surrounded  Yale 
College.  But  preferring  to  become  a  student  of  King's  Col- 
lege (now  Columbia),  he  removed  to  New  York,  and  was 
fitted  for  it  in  a  preparatory  school.  Little  thought  had  he  on 
the  day  when  he  was  admitted  as  a  Freshman,  that  he  should 
become  one  of  the  most  honored  presidents  of  the  institu- 


^sr?jL 


SKETCHES   OF  THE   BISHOPS.  I43 

tion  he  was  entering  ;  and  that  his  college  should  then  bear 
a  new  name  in  a  new  nation. 

"  After  his  graduation,"  says  Dr.  Berrian,  "  he  studied 
theology  at  Newtown,  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Samuel 
Auchmuty,  rector  of  Trinity  Church;  and  for  several  years 
he  taught  Latin  and  Greek  to  the  sons  of  gentlemen  in  New 
York.  He  went  to  England  in  May,  1774;  was  ordained 
deacon  on  Friday,  June  24,  in  the  chapel  of  the  Episcopal 
palace  at  Fulham,  by  Richard  Terrick,  Bishop  of  London  ; 
and  priest,  on  Wednesday,  June  29,  1774,  in  the  same  place 
and  by  the  same  bishop. 

"  Returning  from  England,  he  was  appointed,  with  the 
Rev.  John  Bowden  (afterward  Dr.  Bowden  of  Columbia 
College),  an  assistant  minister  of  Trinity  Church,  Dr.  Auch- 
muty being  rector  and  afterward  Dr.  Inglis,  since  Bishop  of 
Nova  Scotia."  * 

At  the  beginning  of  Mr.  Moore's  ministry,  the  first  Trinity 
Church  (much  larger  and  more  imposing  than  the  second), 
was  still  standing,  and  so  remained  until  it  was  swept  away 
in  the  conflagration  which  destroyed  that  part  of  the  city  in 
September,  1776.  Built  in  1696,  and  twice  enlarged,  its  di- 
mensions were  now  one  hundred  and  forty-six  feet  in  length, 
by  seventy-two  in  width,  and  its  spire  was  one  hundred  and 
eighty  feet  high.  Two  chapels  belonged  to  the  parish — St. 
George's,  built  in  1752,  and  St.  Paul's,  in  1766.  As  yet, 
there  was  no  St.  John's  chapel.     That  was  erected  in  1807. 

Through  all  those  trying  years,  when  the  enemies  of  the 
Church  were  many,  and  the  site  of  its  chief  sanctuary  was 
marked  by  a  blackened  ruin,  the  young  assistant  persevered 
in  his  work,  until,  twelve  years  later,  in  1788,  he  saw  a  new 
Trinity  Church  completed,  though  smaller  than  the  old 
edifice.  Dr.  Berrian  says  of  his  entire  ministry  in  the 
parish :  "  His  popularity  was  unbounded,  and  his  labors 
most  extensive  ;  so  that  in  the  period  of  thirty-five  years, 
he  celebrated  3,578  marriages,  and  baptized  3,064  children 
and  adults." 

*  Historical  Sketch  of  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  by  the  Rev.  William  Ber- 
rian, D.D.     8vo.     1847. 


144  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

Not  only  was  he  considered  a  man  of  learning,  but  of 
much  power  as  a  preacher.  "  His  voice,  though  not  strong, 
was  so  clear  and  musical  that  every  syllable  could  be  heard 
in  the  most  remote  part  of  the  church."  His  words  were  re- 
inforced by  the  life  which  the  people  knew  so  well,  and  so 
thoroughly  revered.  Gentleness,  kindness,  simplicity,  and  a 
personal  interest  in  his  parishioners,  together  with  great  con- 
sistency, were  his  characteristics.  Even  in  middle  life  there 
was  something  venerable  in  his  appearance  ;  and  very  famil- 
iar to  New  Yorkers  were  his  intellectual  head  ;  plain-parted 
hair  ;  tall,  thin,  and  slightly  bending  figure ;  and  the  blend- 
ing in  his  manner  of  gentleness  and  courtesy.  He  was  called 
apostolic.  Theologically,  he  was  a  high-Churchman  for  his 
day. 

He  married,  in  1778,  Miss  Charity  Clarke,  who  inherited 
an  estate  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  extending  from  West 
Nineteenth  to  West  Twenty-fourth  Street,  and  from  the 
Eighth  Avenue  to  the  river ;  a  portion  of  which  land,  by  the 
generosity  of  her  son,  Professor  Moore,  became  the  site  and 
property  of  the  General  Theological  Seminary.  Bishop 
Moore's  only  child,  Clement  Clarke  Moore,  was  highly  edu- 
cated for  the  ministry,  but  he  never  entered  it.  He  compiled 
a  Hebrew  Lexicon  for  students,  also  other  literary  works  and 
a  volume  of  poems,  by  one  of  which,  "  The  Night  before 
Christmas,"  he  made  all  children  his  debtors.* 

Bishop  Provoost  resigned  the  rectorship  of  Trinity 
Church  in  1800,  and  Dr.  Moore  at  once  succeeded  him  in  the 
parish,  and  afterwards  in  the  diocese.     On  the  5th  of  Sep- 

*  Dr.  Moore,  who  served  the  Theological  Seminary  with  singular  and  saintly 
fidelity  for  twenty-nine  years  (1821-1850),  first  as  Professor  of  Biblical  Learning, 
then  as  Professor  of  Greek  and  Hebrew  Literature,  afterwards  changed  to  Orien- 
tal and  Greek  literature,  was  the  author  of  a  Hebrew  and  Greek  Lexicon,  2  vols., 
8vo,  New  York,  1809  ;  Poems,  l2mo,  1844  ;  George  Castriot,  surnamed  Scander- 
beg,  King  of  Albania,  i2mo,  1852  ;  and  he  edited  and  issued,  in  1824,  in  two 
octavo  volumes,  a  collection  of  his  father's  sermons,  including  several  occasional 
discourses  which  had  been  published  by  the  bishop.  Among  these  are  two 
printed  by  HughGainein  Hanover  Square,  in  1792  and  1793,  and  bound  together, 
which  belonged  to  Bishop  Provoost,  and  are  now  in  the  possession  of  the  writer. 
— Editor. 


SKETCHES   OF   THE   BISHOPS.  145 

tember,  1801,  he  was  unanimously  elected  Bishop  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  in  the  State  of  New  York.  He 
was  so  manifestly  the  man  for  the  place  that  his  election 
seemed  to  be  spontaneous.  A  few  days  afterward,  Septem- 
ber ir,  1801,  he  was  consecrated  in  St.  Michael's  Church, 
Trenton,  New  Jersey,  by  Bishop  White,  of  Pennsylvania, 
Bishop  Claggett,  of  Maryland,  and  Bishop  Jarvis,  of  Connect- 
icut. 

During  his  episcopate  Bishop  Moore  remained  rector  of 
Trinity  Church,  the  two  positions  in  those  days  being  ordi- 
narily held  by  the  same  person.  Such  an  arrangement  was 
the  more  practicable,  because  the  confirmation  visitations  were 
so  much  fewer  then  than  now.  The  list  of  parishes  in  the 
entire  State  of  New  York  entitled  to  representation  in  the 
Convention  of  1804,  is  as  follows  :  in  New  York  City,  Trinity 
Church  and  its  three  chapels ;  Church  du  St.  Esprit,  St. 
Mark's,  in  the  Bowery,  and  Christ  Church  ;  and  beyond  New 
York  city  single  parishes  in  the  following  places  :  New 
Rochelle,  Catskill,  Newtown  and  Flushing,  Yonkers,  Brook- 
lyn (St.  Ann's),  Hudson,  Staten  Island,  Rye,  Bedford,  Al- 
bany, Poughkeepsie  (Rev.  Philander  Chase,  rector),  Fishkill, 
Hempstead,  New  Stamford,  East  Chester,  West  Chester, 
beside  stations  in  Orange  and  Otsego  Counties.  These  par- 
ishes were  served  by  28  clergy. 

The  extent  of  the  annual  visitations  is  given  by  Bishop 
Moore  himself.  At  the  Diocesan  Convention  of  1808  he 
makes  the  following  report :  "  Since  the  last  meeting  of  the 
convention  (exclusive  of  the  four  congregations  which  are 
more  immediately  committed  to  my  pastoral  care  as  rector 
of  Trinity  Church)  I  have  visited  the  following  churches  for 
the  purpose  of  administering  the  holy  rite  of  confirmation: 
Christ  Church,  New  York;  St.  Ann's,  Brooklyn;  St.  An- 
drew's, Staten  Island;  Trinity  Church,  New  Rochelle;  St. 
Peter's,  West  Chester;  St.  Paul's,  East  Chester;  St.  Mark's, 
Bowery;  St.  John's,  Yonkers.  In  the  before-mentioned  period 
of  time,  six  hundred  and  ninety-two  persons  have  been  con- 
firmed. We  have  ten  young  gentlemen  who  have  signified 
their  intention  of  applying  for  admission  into  Holy  Orders." 
10 


I46  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

In  1809,  the  bishop  reports:  "  During  the  last  year  I  have 
administered  the  holy  rite  of  confirmation  in  the  following 
churches  :  Grace  Church,  Jamaica  ;  St.  James',  Newtown  ; 
St.  George's,  Flushing  ;  St.  Michael's,  Bloomingdale  ;  Trinity 
Church,  New  York;  Christ  Church,  Hudson;  St.  Peter's,  Al- 
bany; St.  Paul's,  Troy;  Trinity  Church,  Lansingburgh  ;  St. 
George's,  Schenectady  ;  Episcopal  congregation  in  the  Lu- 
theran Church,  Athens  ;  St.  Luke's,  Catskill.  In  the  course 
of  these  visitations  I  have  confirmed  three  hundred  and  four 
persons." 

It  will  be  observed  that  though  these  confirmations  were 
occasional,  the  classes  were  large.  The  extent  of  the  bishop's 
duties  as  rector  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  in  1804 
there  were  in  Trinity  parish  1,000  communicants,  115  mar- 
riages, 378  baptisms,  and  400  funerals. 

Bishop  Moore's  episcopate  was  marked  by  the  steady 
growth  of  the  diocese.  Christ  Church,  New  York  city,  was 
received  into  union  with  the  convention  in  1802,  St.  James', 
Goshen,  in  1803,  ar>d  the  Church  du  St.  Esprit  was  consecrated  ; 
St.  Paul's,  Claverack  and  Warwick,  was  received  in  1804,  St. 
Stephens,  New  York  City,  and  the  Church  at  Athens,  and 
Coxsackie  in  1806,  and  St.  Michael's,  Bloomingdale,  in  1807. 
The  year  1810  was  very  fruitful.  On  the  18th  of  March  a 
young  man  of  excellent  promise  was  ordained  deacon  in  St. 
John's  Chapel.  His  name  was  William  Berrian.  Who  could 
say  that  he  would  not  some  day  become  rector  of  Trinity 
parish  itself.  On  the  22d  of  March,  Zion  Lutheran  Church, 
in  Mott  Street,  conformed  to  our  communion,  and  its  pastor, 
Ralph  Williston,  was  ordained  on  the  following  day.  On  the 
17th  of  May  the  new  St.  James'  Church,  Hamilton  Square, 
five  miles  distant  from  the  city,  among  the  country  seats  of 
prominent  churchmen,  was  consecrated  ;  also  on  the  9th  of 
June,  Trinity  Church,  Geneva;  July  8th,  Christ  Church, 
Cooperstown  ;  and  October  17,  St.  Matthew's,  Bedford. 

During  all  these  years  of  diocesan  work  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Hobart,  of  Trinity  Church,  afterward  Bishop  Hobart,  was 
the  active  and  most  efficient  helper  of  Bishop  Moore  ;  and  by 
his  co-operation  the  Protestant   Episcopal   Theological  So- 


SKETCHES   OF   THE   BISHOPS.  147 

ciety  was  established  in  1806,  and  became  the  germ  of  the 
General  Theological  Seminary.  The  Bible  and  Common 
Prayer  Book  Society  was  also  established  in   1809. 

In  February,  181 1,  the  bishop  was  attacked  by  paralysis, 
and  called  a  special  convention  in  May,  for  the  purpose  of 
electing  an  assistant  bishop.  Dr.  Hobart  was  chosen,  and 
after  his  consecration  performed  all  the  duties  of  the  diocese. 
Bishop  Moore  withdrew  into  the  sacred  retirement  of  an  in- 
valid, where  his  bearing  is  said  to  have  been  saintly  ;  and  he 
fell  asleep  on  the  27th  of  February,  18 16,  in  the  sixty-sixth 
year  of  his  age. 

During  his  episcopate  a  question  arose  with  regard  to  his 
jurisdiction,  but  it  was  one  into  which  he  did  not  enter,  and 
it  does  not  form  a  part  of  his  history. 

Bishop  Hobart  preached  his  funeral  sermon,  in  which  he 
said  :  "  He  lives  in  the  memory  of  his  virtues.  He  was  un- 
affected in  his  temper,  in  his  actions,  in  his  every  look  and 
gesture.  Simplicity,  which  throws  such  a  charm  over  talents, 
such  a  lustre  over  station,  and  even  a  celestial  loveliness  over 
piety  itself,  gave  its  coloring  to  the  talents,  the  station,  and 
the  piety  of  our  venerable  father. 

"  People  of  the  congregation  !  *  *  *  you  have  not  for- 
gotten that  voice  of  sweetness  and  melody,  yet  of  gravity 
and  solemnity  with  which  he  excited  while  he  chastened 
your  devotion  ;  nor  that  evangelical  eloquence,  gentle  as  the 
dew  of  Hermon." 


148  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 


THE   THIRD   BISHOP   OF   NEW   YORK. 

John  Henry  Hobart,  who  became  the  third  bishop  of 
New  York,  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  September  14,  1775. 
He  was  thus,  at  his  birth,  a  subject  of  the  British  Crown. 
His  father's  family  was  a  highly  respectable  one  in  our  colo- 
nial history,  having  been  established  in  America  since  1635. 
He  was  blest  with  a  Christian  parentage,  and,  as  has  often 
been  the  case  with  the  brightest  ornaments  of  the  Church, 
he  owed  much  to  the  piety  and  tenderness  of  a  mother, 
upon  whom,  as  a  widow,  was  thrown  the  chief  care  and 
nurture  of  his  boyhood.  She  was  able  to  afford  him  a  lib- 
eral education,  and  he  was  graduated  B.A.  at  Princeton, 
in  1793.  On  the  3d  of  June,  1798,111  his  twenty-third  year, 
he  was  admitted  to  the  diaconate,  by  Bishop  White.  Af- 
ter brief  engagements  near  Philadelphia,  and  afterwards 
at  Hempstead,  Long  Island,  he  became  an  assistant  minis- 
ter of  Trinity  Church,  in  New  York,  in  September,  1800, 
while  yet  in  deacon's  orders  ;  and  he  was  ordained  to  the 
presbyterate,  in  that  church,  by  Bishop  Provoost,  in  April, 
1 801.     The  precise  date  of  this  ordination  is  not  recorded. 

It  may  surprise  us  to  find  that  be- 
fore this  event  he  was  Secretary  to 
the  House  of  Bishops,  his  election 
to  that  honorable  duty  taking  place  on  the  anniversary  of  his 
admission  to  Holy  Orders.  In  1801  he  was  made  Secretary 
of  the  Diocesan  Convention  of  New  York;  and,  also,  a 
deputy  to  the  General  Convention,  which  met  in  Trenton 
that  year.  He  was  also  a  deputy  to  the  Convention  of  1804, 
which  met  in  New  York,  and  was  made  Secretary  of  the 
House  of  Deputies.  He  received  the  degree  of  D.D.  from 
Union  College,  in  1806.  On  the  29th  of  May,  181 1,  he  was 
consecrated  bishop-coadjutor  to  Bishop  Moore,  in  Trinity 
Church,  New  York;  and  on  the  27th  of  February,  1816,  he 
succeeded  to  the  jurisdiction,  on  the  decease  of  his  predeces- 


V/ 


SKETCHES   OF   THE   BISHOPS.  I49 

sor.  He  was  also  elected  rector  of  Trinity  Church,  to  suc- 
ceed Bishop  Moore.  His  episcopal  cure  was  extended  to 
New  Jersey,  till  it  received  a  bishop,  in  181 5,  and  from  1816 
to  1 8 19  he  had  provisional  charge  of  the  Diocese  of  Connec- 
ticut. On  the  10th  of  September,  1830,  he  closed  a  laborious 
life  and  a  career  of  distinguished  usefulness,  while  visiting  the 
Western  district  of  his  diocese.  He  fell  asleep  at  Auburn,  in 
the  rectory  of  St.  Peter's  Church,  and  was  buried  in  the  chan- 
cel of  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  on  the  16th  of  September, 
Dr.  Onderdonk  officiating  and  preaching  the  funeral  sermon. 

Such  is  the  outline  of  a  life  which  has  left  a  deep  impres. 
sion  on  the  Catholic  Church  of  America.  The  details  of  his 
biography  are  profusely  recorded  in  historical  and  popular 
works,  and  need  not  be  repeated  here.  The  space  accorded 
to  his  memoir  in  these  pages  may  better  be  devoted  to  a 
brief  review  of  his  character  and  his  work. 

The  epoch-making  bishops  of  our  brief  history  are,  of 
course,  few.  Nobody  doubts,  however,  that  of  these  Hobart 
was  one.  Circumstances  to  which  I  will  direct  attention,  by 
and  by,  have  led  to  a  temporary  neglect  of  his  name  and  in- 
fluence, and  thousands  who  have  entered  the  Church  from 
other  communions  are  so  uninstructed  in  her  antecedents, 
and  undisciplined  by  her  historical  traditions,  that  his  mem- 
ory, like  that  of  Seabury  and  Ravenscroft,  is  preserved  in 
books  almost  exclusively,  and  lives  not  as  it  should  in  the 
hearts  of  men.  It  is  a  momentary  evil,  however,  for  he  was 
one  of  those  elect  spirits  whose  labors  are  imperishable  in 
their  effects,  and  must  revive,  from  time  to  time,  asserting 
their  full  value  in  living  issues,  and  so  recalling  his  influence, 
and  elevating  it  into  authority. 

Look,  then,  at  the  epoch  which  Hobart  created.  He  res- 
cued the  Church  from  a  fossilized  position  in  this  country ; 
brought  in  into  contact  with  the  actual  life  and  thought  of 
his  day,  and  lifted  it  into  the  sphere  of  commanding  dignity, 
where,  under  his  moulding  and  directing  hand,  it  became  a 
power  in  the  nation.  Few  seem  to  have  given  due  attention 
to  these  facts ;  let  me  briefly  illustrate  them. 

Not  till  I  had  lived  to  see  the  hundredth  anniversary  of 


150  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

American  Independence  did  it  occur  to  me  how  nearly  my 
own  life  and  recollections  had  touched  upon  the  period  and 
the  men  of  the  Revolution.  Not  to  speak  of  the  venerable 
worthies  to  whose  conversations  I  listened,  as  a  child,  when 
they  related  their  own  share  in  its  political  or  military  affairs,* 
I  now  feel  as  I  did  not  previously,  how  really  the  Church,  as 
I  first  knew  it  in  New  York,  was  yet  the  "  Church  of  Eng- 
land," the  name  by  which  it  was  frequently  spoken  of  in  pop- 
ular usage.  It  was  not  till  A.D.  1817,  that  Bishop  Hobart 
buried  Dr.  Bowden,  the  last  of  those  clergy  who  had  belonged 
to  the  colonial  days,  and  were  ordained  in  England.  Bishop 
Provoost  himself  had  died  only  two  years  before,  and  Bishop 
White,  outliving  Bishop  Hobart  himself,  survived  till  1833, 
the  grand  patriarchal  figure  in  whom  the  colonial  period  pro- 
tracted its  influence,  and  was  kept  before  men's  minds  to  a 
date  comparatively  recent. 

In  New  York,  more  than  elsewhere,  however,  the  Church 
retained  the  traditions  of  its  history,  so  long  as  Bishop  Ho- 
bart lived.  Trinity  Church  itself  was  a  "  royal  foundation," 
and  the  other  churches  in  the  city  (and,  to  a  large  extent,  in 
the  country)  were  but  branches  of  that  banyan-like  old  trunk. 
During  the  war  the  royal  troops  generally  held  the  city,  and 
it  was  considered  a  strong-hold  of  Tories.  I  can  recollect  the 
old-fashioned  men  and  dames  whose  costume  was  in  some  par- 
ticulars that  of  Washington's  "  court."  Powdered  hair  and 
the  queue  had  not  entirely  disappeared  from  men  ;  and  short 
clothes  with  shoe  buckles  were  by  no  means  uncommon. 
Bishop  Moore,  of  Virginia,  and  also  Bishop  Griswold  retained 
this  grave  and  dignified  attire  to  the  last.  The  old  traditional 
Church  families  of  New  York  were  the  leaders  of  society,  and 
in  many  ways  they  reflected  the  colonial  manners  and  modes 
of  thought.  I  recollect  one  modest  and  unassuming,  but 
truly  grand  old  dame,  who  lived  till  past  A.D.  1840,  and  who 
never  ceased  to  celebrate  "the  old  King's  birth-day"  by  a 
family  feast.     She  was  not  untrue  to  the  National  Republic, 

*  e.  g.     I  remember  a  conversation  of  Governor  Morgan  Lewis   with   my 
father,  in  which  he  referred  to  the  inauguration  of  Washington  as  first  President 
and  mentioned  his  command  of  the  soldiery  on  that  occasion. 


SKETCHES   OF   THE   BISHOPS.  151 

but  she  kept  up,  with  tender  fidelity  to  parental  training,  the 
feelings  of  her  childhood  and  the  traditions  of  her  family. 
Now,  the  Church  usages  and  traditions  of  the  past  lived  on 
in  Trinity  parish  in  the  same  way,  so  long  as  these  represen- 
tatives of  the  Province  survived.* 

At  the  time  of  Hobart's  consecration  the  Church  was  at  a 
low  ebb  of  vitality,  though  perhaps  not  at  the  lowest.  The 
old  clergy  were  dying  out ;  few  had  come  forward  to  take  their 
places  ;  in  the  country  at  large  the  Church  was  little  known, 
and  generally  looked  upon  as  antiquated,  effete,  and  ready  to 
perish.  In  Virginia  Chief  Justice  Marshall  was  astonished, 
in  A.D.,  181 1,  to  hear  of  a  young  man  who  proposed  to  enter 
its  ministry  ;  he  had  supposed  it  dead  and  buried.  The  con- 
fiscation of  the  glebe  lands  had  indeed  been  an  apparent 
death-blow  to  the  church  in  the  Old  Dominion.  Everywhere 
"  her  enemies  were  chief."  The  colleges,  the  press,  the  pre- 
dominating influence  among  the  people,  were  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Presbyterians  and  Independents.  So  low  was  the 
popular  prestige  of  the  Church,  even  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
that  Dr.  Mason  had  been  able  to  grasp  the  presidency  of 
Columbia  College,  and  not  only  so,  for  he  dictated  his  own 
terms,  entered  upon  his  task  as  a  reformer,  and  humbled  the 
Church  so  low  as  to  force  upon  the  trustees  of  the  college  an 
evasion  of  their  own  laws.  As  he  could  not  legally  be  made 
"  president,"  he  was  invested  with  the  same  office,  under  the 
fiction  of  "  Provostship."  Let  us  not  marvel  that  Bishop 
Provoost's  conviction  was  understood  to  be  that  the  Church 
was  incapable  of  flourishing  under  the  new  conditions,  and 
that  it  was  destined  to  dwindle  away,  and  hardly  to  survive  the 
hereditary  instincts  of  another  generation  in  the  old  colonial 
families.  In  181 3,  when,  for  the  first  time,  Bishop  Hobart, 
though  still  a  coadjutor-bishop,  found  himself  invested  with 
the  entire  responsibilities  and  Episcopal  power  of  the  diocese, 
he  acknowledged  himself  cheered  by  the  extraordinary  fact 
that  three  young  men  of  promise  and    high  social  position 

*  The  solemnity  with  which  they  observed  Good  Friday  is  well  portrayed 
(strange  to  say)  by  Mrs.  Stowe,  describing  the  manner  of  old  church-folk  in  Mas- 
sachusetts.    See  Oldtown  Folk, 


152  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

had  offered  themselves  as  candidates  for  Holy  Orders.  In 
1818  he  exulted  in  an  increase  of  candidates  very  large  for 
those  days ;  and  from  that  year  must  be  dated,  as  the  late 
Bishop  Burgess  has  shown,  the  upgrowth  of  the  American 
Church.  All  that  we  see  of  progress  is,  in  fact,  the  develop- 
ment of  less  than  three-score-years-and-ten.  If  we  accept 
the  date  of  Hobart's  death,  A.D.  1830,  as  the  starting  point  of 
our  whole  visible  and  acknowledged  gain  upon  the  thought 
and  progressive  conformity  of  our  countrymen,  we  shall  be 
just  to  historic  facts.  Bishop  Hobart  himself  never  saw  the 
full  success,  even  in  promise,  of  those  elements  of  organic  in- 
crease, of  which  it  was  his  life-work  to  be,  in  large  measure, 
the  creator. 

The  press,  as  I  have  said,  was  in  the  hands  of  the  popular 
denominations.  Of  our  standard  authors  nothing  could  be 
had  save  by  the  expensive  and  tardy  process  of  importation. 
But  as  early  as  1803  Hobart  began  to  move  the  Church  and 
to  awaken  the  attention  of  those  without,  by  his  didactic 
treatises.  From  his  twenty-eighth  year  to  his  thirty-second 
his  pen  was  constantly  at  work.  He  produced  in  quick  suc- 
cession his  essay  on  The  Nature  and  Constitution  of  the 
Christian  Church,  his  Companion  for  the  Altar,  the  Com- 
panion for  the  Festivals  and  Fasts,  The  Church  Catechism, 
prepared  for  Sunday  School  Instruction,  and  The  Companion 
for  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  The  Clergyman  s  Com- 
panion, a  most  useful  hand-book  of  pastoral  theology,  belongs 
also  to  this  catalogue,  the  very  titles  of  which  sufficiently  in- 
dicate the  bent  of  his  mind  and  the  school  of  his  divinity. 

While  these  publications  provided  the  clergy  with  valu- 
able aids,  and  attracted  the  attention  of  sectarians,  who  were 
surprised  to  find  the  press  actively  worked  for  such  ends, 
their  blessed  fruits  were  more  happily  realized  in  the  new 
and  zealous  spirit  they  began  to  impart  to  the  laity.  Dr. 
McVickar  argued,  very  clearly,  that  one  of  the  earliest  and 
noblest  fruits  of  Dr.  Hobart's  ministry  was  this  regeneration 
of  the  lay  element  in  the  Church.  Under  the  old  establish- 
mentarian  ideas  many  had  too  contentedly  been  "  hangers-on  " 
of  her  ordinances,  who  now  became  her  sons  and  devoted  ser- 


SKETCHES    OF   THE   BISHOPS.  1 53 

vants,  in  the  love  of  Christ  and  "  the  brethren."  From  that 
day  forth,  like  the  house  of  Rechab,  the  Church  has  not 
wanted  sons  to  stand  before  the  Lord  and  before  the  world, 
like  the  faithful  Laity  of  Carthage  in  the  days  of  Cyprian. 

In  his  pastoral  labors  he  was  a  devoted  Catechist,  and 
with  a  due  sense  of  the  importance  of  training  the  future 
clergy  and  people  of  the  Church  in  the  knowledge  and  love  of 
her  ordinances,  he  thus  laid  broad  and  deep  the  foundations 
of  a  lasting  prosperity.  As  a  preacher  he  was  earnest  and 
impressive,  and  was  regarded  as  eloquent,  but  Dr.  McVickar 
is  candid  in  his  criticisms,  and  acknowledges  that  his  thorough 
devotion  to  his  task  of  explaining  and  enforcing  truth  ren- 
dered him  too  little  careful  in  the  cultivation  of  style.  What 
surprised  the  congregation  of  those  days,  he  preached  habit- 
ually without  manuscript,  and  some  hardly  knew  what  to 
make  of  one  who  sometimes  preached  "  like  a  Methodist," 
while  yet  he  insisted  on  the  authority  and  claims  of  the 
Church,  with  an  emphasis  unexampled  previously.  The  writer 
of  this  memoir  remembers  his  extemporary  lectures  on  week 
days  in  St.  John's  Chapel,  but  never  saw  him  in  the  pulpit 
without  a  manuscript.  He  was  all  fervor  and  action.  Of 
course,  my  recollections  are  those  of  a  child,  but  I  recall  my 
frequent  remark,  that  I  lost  some  of  his  words,  owing  to  his 
rapidity  of  speech,  and  his  occasional  chewing  of  a  syllable  in 
utterance.  But  his  biographer's  remarks  were  probably  not 
wholly  applicable  to  his  pulpit  work  after  he  became  a  bishop, 
the  period  when  I  first  saw  and  heard  him.  The  tributes  to 
his  power  and  unction  as  a  preacher  which  have  been  pre- 
served, however,  are  of  no  ordinary  character,  and  coming 
from  men  of  great  eminence  in  different  positions,  as  clergy 
or  laymen,  they  make  it  indisputable  that  his  eloquence  was 
that  of  genuine  earnestness  and  persuasiveness,  negligent, 
indeed,  of  artificial  forms  and  adornments,  but  penetrating  to 
the  consciences  and  the  hearts  of  the  hearers,  and  directing 
their  souls  to  the  Saviour  of  sinners  as  their  only  refuge. 

From  his  thirtieth  to  his  thirty-fifth  year  Dr.  Hobart  sus- 
tained, with  an  unwilling,  but  not  the  less  intrepid  champion- 
ship, the  part  of  a  controvertist.     Some  of  his  publications 


154  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

were  attacked  with  great  bitterness  by  the  sectarian  press, 
and  he  was  forced  to  stand  upon  the  defensive.  He  became 
engaged  in  a  memorable  discussion  with  that  Goliath  of  Cal- 
vinism, the  learned  and  vigorous  Dr.  Mason,  against  whom  he 
seemed  matched  like  the  youthful  David  in  his  contest  with 
the  towering  Philistine,  most  unequally,  like  a  mere  boy  with 
a  man  of  war  from  his  youth.  The  gifts  and  powerful  intel- 
lectual endowments  of  Dr.  Mason  were,  indeed,  remarka- 
ble, and  the  bitter  sarcasms  with  which  he  met  his  some- 
what diminutive  antagonist  justify  the  impression  that  he 
expected  an  easy  victory,  and  disdained  the  youth  whose  te- 
merity he  supposed  must  ensure  defeat.  But  widely  different 
was  the  result.  The  controversy  awakened  attention  through- 
out the  whole  country.  A  storm  of  indignation  was  indeed 
awakened  against  the  young  divine  who  had  ventured  to  pro- 
claim, in  republican  America,  such  doctrines  as  might  plaus- 
ibly be  represented  as  worthy  only  of  the  days  of  the  Tudors 
and  the  Stuarts  ;  and,  what  was  worse,  the  timid  and  the 
prudent,  as  well  as  the  politic,  in  his  own  communion,  were 
not  prepared  to  approve  of  his  course  or  to  acknowledge  his 
positions  to  be  those  of  the  Church  herself.  But  he  stood 
upon  the  ground  of  Scripture,  and  claimed  it  in  support  of 
his  chosen  position — "  Evangelical  truth  with  Apostolical 
Order."  Enough,  that  the  results  justified  his  courageous 
and  faithful  soldiership.  From  that  day  to  this,  the  principles 
for  which  he  contended  have  never  been  suffered  to  escape 
from  the  attention  of  American  Christians  ;  they  have  been 
thoroughly  examined  and  discussed,  with  the  inevitable  con- 
sequence— the  vast  increase  of  the  Church's  numbers,  and 
the  yet  greater  and  wider  diffusion  of  her  influence  among 
intelligent  and  earnest  Christians.  And  well  may  the  clergy 
of  this  day  rejoice  that  what  had  to  be  done  at  first  in  the 
distasteful  form  of  controversy  was  done  once  for  all,  and 
well  done,  so  that  we  may  "let  it  alone  forever."  Since  then 
there  have  been  discussions,  indeed,  but  it  has  not  been 
necessary  to  maintain  an  acrimonious  conflict,  because  the 
Church's  position  and  principles  are  known  and  identified,  and 
can  never  again  be  treated  as  if  they  were  but  offensive  and 


SKETCHES   OF   THE   BISHOPS.  1 55 

arrogant  ideas  of  an  individual.  They  may  be  resisted,  but 
they  are  treated  with  respect.  If  the  memorable  debates  of 
Dr.  Barnes  with  Bishop  Onderdonk,  and  those  of  Dr.  Potts 
with  Dr.  Wainwright  (subsequently  Provisional  Bishop  of 
New  York)  were  characterized  by  mutual  courtesies  and  re- 
spectful concessions  of  just  regard  for  the  claims  of  an  oppo- 
nent, we  owe  this  improved  state  of  things,  in  large  measure, 
to  what  Dr.  Hobart  was  forced  to  do  and  to  endure,  in  the 
days  of  Dr.  Mason,  whose  tactics  were  so  largely  those  of  an 
overbearing  antagonist,  determined  to  assert  a  victory  from 
the  start  by  the  display  of  gigantic  powers  and  a  faculty  of 
scorn  that  will  hardly  condescend  to  reason.  In  spite  of 
admirable  qualities  and  a  commanding  eloquence,  such  I  sup- 
pose to  have  been  the  defects  of  Dr.  Mason  in  dealing  with 
those  who  were  bold  enough  to  reject  his  dogmatic  supremacy. 
But  it  was  not  only  in  the  field  of  religious  discussion  that 
the  youthful  Hobart  was  obliged  to  meet  this  man  of  war. 
The  humiliating  condition  to  which  Columbia  College  was 
reduced  at  this  time,  and  the  preponderating  power  of  Dr. 
Mason,  in  the  corporation,  have  been  alluded  to.  No  need  to 
revive  the  painful  history;  but,  great  is  the  debt  which  that 
noble  foundation  will  ever  owe  to  the  mastery  with  which  Dr. 
Hobart  asserted  the  claims  of  the  Church  to  manage  the  en- 
dowments she  had  created.  At  this  crisis  one  is  reminded  of 
the  lines  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  in  thinking  of  Dr.  Mason  : 

"  While  less  expert,  though  stronger  far, 
The  Gael  maintained  unequal  war." 

Judge  Livingston,  though  by  his  religious  alliances  more 
naturally  leaning  to  the  great  Presbyterian  divine,  said  of  his 
young  opponent :  "  Mr.  Hobart,  if  not  now,  will  soon  (believe 
me)  be  more  than  a  match  for  Dr.  Mason.  He  has  all  the 
talents  of  a  leader ;  he  is  the  most  parliamentary  speaker  I 
ever  met  with  ;  he  is  equally  prompt,  logical,  and  practical.  I 
never  yet  saw  that  man  thrown  off  his  centre."  Growing 
more  emphatic,  he  replied  to  a  rejoinder  thus:  "  Sir,  you 
underrate  that  young  man's  talents  ;  nature  has  fitted  him  for 
a  leader.*     Had  he  studied  law  he  would  have  been  upon  the 

*  Dr.  McVickar's  comments  upon  this  anecdote  are  very  admirable.  Would  all 


156  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

bench;  in  the  army,  a  major-general  at  the  least,  and  in  the 
State  nothing  under  prime-minister." 

The  Church's  first  need,  at  this  time,  was  adequate  pro- 
vision for  a  learned  clergy.  Going  to  the  English  univer- 
sities was  no  longer  to  be  thought  of.  The  theological  semi- 
naries of  the  country  were  all  creations  of  the  divers  popular 
forms  of  sectarianism.  The  patient  and  successful  efforts 
of  Hobart  to  establish  the  General  Seminary  form  a  chapter 
in  our  history  of  the  greatest  interest,  and  constitute  one 
of  his  strongest  claims  on  our  lasting  gratitude.  In  like 
manner,  we  owe  to  him  the  "  Bible  and  Common  Prayer 
Book  Society,"  established  in  1809,  preceding  the  "Ameri- 
can Bible  Society "  by  seven  years.  In  defence  of  this 
cherished  institution,  to  which  the  Church  is  indebted  for 
her  first  lessons  in  one  great  department  of  missionary  work, 
Dr.  Hobart  was  subsequently  forced  to  appear,  once  more, 
as  a  champion.  Again,  we  are  indebted  to  him  for  found- 
ing and  sustaining  the  Churchman  s  Magazine,  perhaps  the 
most  important  of  our  early  efforts  to  maintain  a  periodi- 
cal of  this  class,  devoted  to  church  matters.  In  18 10,  at 
the  consecration  of  Trinity  Church,  Newark,  his  sermon  on 
"The  Excellence  of  the  Church  "  contained  an  assertion  of 
the  most  evangelical  principles,  but  such  a  repudiation  of  the 
prevailing  Calvinistic  ideas  then  generally  associated  with 
"  the  doctrines  of  grace,"  has  aroused  no  small  opposition. 
In  Dr.  Mason's  organ,  the  Christian  Magazine,  it  was  bitterly 
attacked.  But  hardjy  excepting  what  is  said  of  the  Liturgy, 
the  same  sermon,  in  our  days,  would  hardly  stimulate  oppo- 
sition if  preached  from  a  Presbyterian  pulpit.  So  great  has 
been  the  change  with  respect  to  the  tenets  of  Calvin,  and  so 
general  the  acquiescence  of  learned  Presbyterian  divines,  in 
the  truths  of  which  the  impact  upon  inveterate  prejudice 
now  began  to  be  felt. 

The  resignation  of  Bishop  Provoost  and  the  declining 
health   of   Bishop  Moore    created   another    critical    state    of 

our  young  clergy  might  read  them.  He  notes  as  the  four  elements  of  greatness 
(1)  sagacity  in  foresight,  (2)  rapidity  of  movement,  (3)  concentration  of  effort,  and 
(4)  peiseverance  in  purpose. — Prof.   Years,  p.  124. 


SKETCHES   OF  THE   BISHOPS.  1 57 

things  in  the  feeble  estate  of  Church  life  in  New  York.  Dr. 
Hobart  became  coadjutor-bishop  ;  but  the  painful  difficulties 
which  arose  out  of  all  the  circumstances  are  a  chapter  full  of 
instructive  warnings,  as  to  various  perils  which  may  beset 
the  Church,  through  human  infirmity.  Let  us  not  revive  the 
memory  of  those  events,  save  to  state  the  facts  that  the  trials 
of  the  young  bishop,  at  the  outset  of  his  career,  were  need- 
lessly multiplied,  bravely  encountered,  and  manfully  over, 
come.  In  four  years  after  his  consecration,  the  number  of 
his  clergy  had  been  doubled ;  the  missionary  clergy  had 
increased  fourfold.  Wholly  devoted  to  his  work,  he  went 
forth  himself  a  missionary  to  the  waste  places  of  his  diocese. 
In  the  cause  of  education,  Bishop  Hobart  was  again  a 
pioneer.  Apart  from  what  he  did  for  the  already  endowed 
college  in  New  York,  to  which  I  have  only  made  a  passing 
reference,  he  was  the  founder  of  the  college  at  Geneva,  of 
which  I  shall  speak  more  particularly  by-and-by.  He  was 
also,  in  fact,  the  real  founder  of  the  seminary  in  New  York. 
In  the  General  Convention  of  1813  he  opposed  a  premature 
effort  to  establish  something  of  the  kind  by  that  body  ;  but 
it  was  simply  because  he  considered  it  premature,  and  be- 
cause he  felt  the  vast  importance  of  New  York,  and 
that  its  influence  should  be  predominant  in  the  founding 
of  the  school.  From  New  York  he  was  sure  the  funds 
must  be  largely  derived,  and  he  was  unwilling  to  forfeit 
a  corresponding  control.  This  principle  he  had  contended 
for,  in  behalf  of  the  Church  and  her  interests  in  Columbia  Col- 
lege ;  and,  as  to  the  proposed  seminary,  he  foresaw  that  the 
General  Convention  would  be  unable  to  direct  its  affairs  with 
adequate  care  and  oversight.  In  New  York,  only,  the  Church 
was  strong  enough  to  give  it,  from  the  start,  a  proper  charac- 
ter and  dignity  ;  and  there  almost  exclusively  was  it  possessed 
of  a  traditional  order  and  conformity  in  its  usages  with  those 
of  the  Mother  Church,  which  could  be  trusted  to  educate  the 
future  clergy  by  mere  contact  and  habituation  into  the  princi- 
ples and  the  tone  of  Hooker  and  Taylor  and  Hammond.  It 
was  not  for  any  personal  ends  that  he  maintained  this  idea. 
He  felt  that  a  seminary  placed  anywhere  else,  at  that  crisis, 


158  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

would  render  only  a  feeble  and  equivocal  service  to  the  com- 
mon good.  In  a  few  years  this  was  recognized  by  the  whole 
Church,  and  the  munificence  of  the  worthy  son  of  the  late 
Bishop  Moore*  enabled  it  to  begin  its  career  with  an  effi- 
ciency which  soon  began  to  be  felt  in  every  part  of  the  land. 
The  bishop  himself  accepted  its  chair  of  pastoral  theology, 
and  gave  his  personal  labor  gratuitously  to  its  earliest  alumni. 
With  what  inspiration  he  moved  them  to  every  high  resolve 
and  fired  them  with  his  own  holy  enthusiasm,  I  have  heard 
eloquently  described  by  the  greatest  of  his  pupils,  the  apos- 
tolic Whittingham.  "  For  few  of  God's  many  blessings,"  he 
once  said  to  me,  "  have  I  so  much  reason  to  be  supremely 
grateful  as  for  the  day  that  brought  me  to  sit  at  the  feet  of 
Hobart."  Truly,  the  great  man  "  lived  in  his  issue,"  for  like 
Clement  after  Pantaenus  at  Alexandria,  Whittingham  suc- 
ceeded to  a  similar  power  and  influence  in  the  seminary,  and 
many  of  our  living  clergy  express  themselves  in  the  same 
manner  when  in  turn  they  speak  of  him. 

The  college  which  now  bears  his  name,  at  Geneva,  grew  out 
of  the  bishop's  interest  in  the  great  missionary  region  of  his 
diocese.  In  the  days  when  railways  were  unknown  and  the 
Grand  Canal  itself  was  a  mere  projected  scheme  of  improve- 
ment, the  need  of  a  local  school  for  the  rearing  of  the 
Church's  children  in  the  vast  region  of  Western  New  York  was 
more  forcibly  obvious  than  it  could  be  considered  now.  He 
gave  it  existence,  and  had  he  lived  longer,  it  cannot  be 
doubted  that  a  more  vigorous  life  would  have  characterized 
its  early  history.  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  Bishop's 
delight  in  natural  scenery  influenced  his  resolve  that  Geneva 
should  be  the  site  of  the  Western  College.  "  And  here  it 
shall  stand,"  he  said,  striking  his  staff  into  the  turf,  as  he 
paused  to  survey  the  charming  view  of  the  lake  which  the 
college  commands.-]-  He  chose  the  very  spot  where  it  is  now 
situated  and  where  it  is  cherished  as  a  monument  of  his  life 
and  name. 

*  My  honored  friend,  Clement  C.  Moore,  LL.D. 

t  The  late  T.  C.  Burwell,  of  Geneva,  a  man  of  venerable  and  marked  character, 
gave  me  this  incident  from  his  personal  recollection. 


SKETCHES   OF  THE   BISHOPS.  1 59 

The  missionary  enterprise  of  the  Church  received  its  earliest 
impulses  from  the  example,  as  well  as  from  the  burning  words, 
of  Hobart.  In  Western  New  York  the  remnants  of  the 
Oneidas  were  yet  comparatively  vigorous  in  their  decay,  and 
the  missions  of  the  Church  of  England  had  brought  a  consid- 
erable portion  of  them  into  the  communion  of  the  Church. 
In  1815,  the  bishop  provided  them  with  a  missionary,  and 
the  correspondence  which  passed  between  these  people  and 
their  apostle  in  1818,  is  one  of  the  most  touching  and  primi- 
tive records  of  such  events  in  modern  times.  Soon  after  he 
made  them  a  personal  visit  and  confirmed  eighty-nine  souls, 
who  had  been  well  prepared  for  the  solemnity  by  their  cate- 
chist,  whom  he  afterwards  admitted  to  holy  orders,  and  who 
was  believed  to  be  himself  of  Indian  extraction.*  When,  in 
1865,  I  visited  this  people,  I  found  some  still  surviving  on 
whom  Hobart  had  laid  hands.  The  eloquent  chief  spoke  to 
his  people  in  my  behalf,  welcoming  a  visit  from  a  bishop  who 
would  be  their  friend ;  for,  said  he,  "  this  Church  has  never 
deceived  us,  never  injured  us:  she  has  been  our  helper  for 
many  moons,  many  years,  and  she  will  befriend  us  while  grass 
grows  and  water  runs."  I  was  profoundly  impressed  by  the 
surviving  influence  of  the  bishop's  labors,  and  by  the  tender- 
ness with  which  they  recalled  his  name.  The  mission  at 
Green  Bay,  in  the  "  far  West,"  was  soon  after  established, 
and  the  missionary  was  transferred,  with  many  of  his 
people,  to  what  is  now  Wisconsin.  To  that  distant  field 
Bishop  Hobart  made  an  effort  to  follow  them,  by  a  per- 
sonal visitation,  nor  can  it  be  doubted  that  he  would  have 
carried  his  purpose  into  effect  had  his  life  been  spared.  As 
it  was,  the  "  Green  Bay  Mission  "  was  at  that  early  day  a 
Christian  outpost  which  awakened  the  Church  to  the  need  of 
missionary  efforts  in  the  West,  and  kindled  that  interest  in 
"  Indian  Missions  "  which  has  been  made  an  honorable  dis- 
tinction of  the  Church  in  America.  I  believe  the  Western- 
most limit   of   Bishop    Hobart's    apostolic  journeyings    was 

*  The  Rev.  Eleazar  Williams,  who  was  afterwards  supposed  to  be  the  lost 
Dauphin  of  France,  Louis  XVII.  This  idea  is  said  to  have  been  accepted  by 
Dr.  Hawks. 


l6o  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

Detroit,  in  the  wilderness  of  Michigan,  where  he  laid  the 
corner-stone  of  a  church  in  1817.  The  time  for  "  Foreign 
Missions  "  was  hardly  yet  reached  in  the  work  of  a  Church 
which  was  little  more  than  a  mission  itself;  and  this  convic- 
tion of  the  bishop  led  those  who  were  hostile  to  his  spirit  to 
accuse  him  of  a  lack  of  interest  in  evangelizing  the  world.  It 
need  not  be  argued  how  unjustly  this  was  said  ;  but,  it  may 
be  urged  with  great  force,  that  from  his.  diocese  went  forth 
the  foremost  of  our  missionaries  in  the  person  of  one  of  his 
own  sons  in  the  ministry,  who  lived  to  do  that  great  work  for 
the  restoration  of  Greece  to  the  purity  of  the  Gospel,  which  is 
everywhere  acknowledged  to  be  one  of  the  most  useful  and 
successful  missionary  operations  of  this  century. 

As  a  doctor  and  theologian  it  is  the  opinion  of  those  who 
knew  him  best,  that  his  influence  was  yet  only  begun  when 
he  was  removed  from  the  militant  Church.  Incessantly  en- 
gaged in  the  practical  duties  of  his  apostolic  office  as  well  as 
in  those  which  were  parochial,  one  can  only  wonder  how  he 
found  time  for  study,  or  for  taking  his  natural  rest.  The  lat- 
ter he  often  sacrificed  to  his  self-imposed  tasks.  From  his 
venerable  relict  I  have  heard  the  most  tender  expressions  of 
regret  that  the  bishop  never  thought  of  rest  when  anything 
was  to  be  done.  Said  Mrs.  Hobart:  "The  last  words  he 
said  to  me  "  (as  he  started  on  the  visitation  from  which  he 
was  returned  in  the  coffin)  "  were  in  reply  to  my  remark — 
'you  are  undertaking  too  much.'  '  How  can  I  do  too  much 
for  Him  who  has  done  everything  for  me  ' — was  his  answer,  as 
he  turned  away  and  left  us  to  come  back  no  more."  To  illus- 
trate the  just  remonstrance  of  Mrs.  Hobart,  he  often  rose  long 
before  day  and  lighted  his  own  fire,  to  begin  his  day's  work. 
It  was  by  these  exertions  while  others  were  sleeping,  that  the 
Church  was  indebted  for  the  publication  of  an  edition  of 
UOyly  and  Manfs  Family  Bible.  It  was  the  earliest  vent- 
ure of  the  press  in  this  country  to  bring  out  a  costly  work, 
which  could  expect  no  support  from  any  others  than  Church- 
men. It  was  undertaken  at  the  instance  of  the  bishop  him- 
self who  enriched  it  with  original  and  selected  annotations, 
and  who  gave  it  his  personal  attention  and  labor  gratuitously, 


SKETCHES   OF  THE   BISHOPS.  l6l 

as  an  encouragement  to  the  publishers  in  their  bold  venture 
on  the  Church's  ability  and  good-will  to  sustain  such  an  under- 
taking. 

This  was  a  defensive  measure,  however,  as  well  as  a  labor 
to  indoctrinate.  The  American  Press  already  teemed  with 
Calvinistic  expositions  and  with  books  for  family  reading 
based  on  the  Genevan  theology.  The  publication  of  Scotfs 
Family  Bible,  in  a  handsome  form,  found  great  popular  favor, 
and  as  its  author  was  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England, 
great  efforts  were  made  to  circulate  it,  on  that  ground,  among 
professed  Churchmen.  But,  it  was  saturated  with  Calvinistic 
ideas,  modified  indeed  by  the  Church ;  and  in  England,  in- 
fluenced, and  rendered  comparatively  harmless,  by  the  pre- 
dominance of  the  Church.  Here,  however,  it  was  fuel  to  fire  ; 
it  helped  on  the  prevalent  sectarianism  of  the  land  and  tended 
to  dilute  the  principles  of  our  own  people.  This  was  what 
Hobart  could  not  behold  with  indifference.  Who  but  he 
would  have  applied  a  remedy  so  costly  to  himself  and  from 
which  nothing  could  accrue  to  his  own  credit  as  a  divine? 
Even  the  Church  has  forgotten  that  such  exertions  were  ever 
made  in  her  behalf;  but  they  left  a  deep  mark  on  her  grow- 
ing character  and  thus  began  the  great  enterprise  of  enlist- 
ing the  capital  of  publishers  in  her  work. 

In  the  enjoyment  of  a  great  privilege  to  which  he  was  ad- 
mitted after  the  bishop's  death,  the  writer  has  often  observed 
the  nature  of  his  studies  and  the  habits  of  his  mind,  in  turn- 
ing over  the  well-used  volumes  of  his  private  library.  The 
marginalia  abound  with  frequent  evidences  of  his  interest, 
approval,  or  disapprobation.  Frequent  marks  of  his  emphatic 
"  N.  B."show  the  discrimination  with  which  he  judged  favor- 
ably of  expressions  or  statements  which  none  other  than  well- 
learned  men  would  have  noted  at  all.  He  was  undoubtedly 
well  versed  in  the  teachings  of  Bull  and  Waterland,  and 
through  them  was  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the  Fathers, 
many  of  whose  writings  were  doubtless  his  familiar  study. 
He  was  the  first  to  give  the  Church  in  America  the  example 
of  an  "  Episcopal  charge,"  explaining  it  as  a  duty  of  his  office. 
It  is  justly  surmised,  therefore,  by  those  who  knew  him  best, 


l62  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

that  had  he  lived  to  see  three-score  and  ten  his  later  years 
would  have  been  fruitful  in  doctrinal  charges,  and  of  teach- 
ings in  other  forms,  which  would  have  left  upon  our  theologi- 
cal learning  as  deep  an  impress  as  his  other  efforts  have 
imparted  to  our  growth  in  other  ways. 

On  the  death  of  Bishop  Moore,  he  preached  a  sermon  in 
which  he  expounded  the  faith  as  to  the  state  of  the  departed 
between  death  and  judgment.  This  'he  afterward  published 
with  additions  by  which  it  was  expanded  into  a  dissertation. 
When  we  reflect  upon  the  feeble  rubric  with  which  our  Amer- 
ican Prayer-book  is  disfigured  to  this  day,  as  touching  the 
Article  of  the  Creed  on  "  the  Descent  into  Hades,"  we  may 
well  admit  the  claims  of  Hobart  to  be  considered  a  doctor  of 
our  Church,  inasmuch  as  by  the  publication  of  this  sermon, 
the  faithful  were  established  in  the  truth,  and  the  last  traces 
of  ignorance  and  feebleness  in  this  part  of  a  good  confession 
were  obliterated.  It  is  not  to  be  forgotten,  that,  while  with 
consummate  tact  he  forbore  to  startle  the  Church  with  private 
opinions  that  gender  strifes,  he  has  yet  left  on  record  and 
commended  to  private  devotion  a  legitimate  prayer  for  the 
faithful  departed,  such  as  the  Church  of  England  has  never 
repudiated  ;  which,  in  fact,  she  has  retained,  ambiguously,  in 
her  Offices,  though  not  more  ambiguously  than  similar  ideas 
are  formulated  in  Holy  Scripture. 

The  doctrine  of  our  regeneration  in  baptism  was  also 
very  imperfectly  comprehended  among  our  people,  until 
Hobart  made  it  prominent  in  his  teaching  and  in  manuals  of 
devotion,  by  which  it  became  familiar  and  was  woven  in  with 
habits  of  piety  in  the  minds  of  young  confirmants  and  com- 
municants. More  formal  and  dogmatic  teachers  have  since 
been  produced,  but  nobody  can  ever  displace  the  primary 
claims  of  the  bishop  in  this  matter  also.  For  it  was  he  who 
taught  the  teachers  and  through  them  the  people  of  a  new 
generation,  what  are  the  elementary  principles  of  the  doctrine 
of  Christ. 

As  to  the  Holy  Eucharist,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he 
shared  with  Seabury  the  views  of  the  Scottish  prelacy,  if  not 
those  of  the  less  discreet  English  Non-jurors.     But,  like  Sea- 


SKETCHES   OF   THE   BISHOPS.  163 

bury,  Bishop  Hobart  had  learned  of  Him  who  "  pleased  not 
himself,"  and  was  ever  ready  to  abate  and  to  postpone  in 
minor  matters  what  time  would  take  care  of,  provided  the 
fundamentals  were  secured.  Thus,  to  secure  the  faithful  use 
of  the  "Ante-Communion,"  on  all  Sundays  and  festivals,  as  a 
recognition  of  the  Eucharistic  principle,  he  offered  to  concede 
to  the  "  Low-Churchmen  "  of  those  days  a  rubrical  abatement 
as  to  minor  matters,  in  which  they  were  wont  to  take  liberties 
very  scandalous  even  to  Bishop  White,  who  reproached  them 
with  a  breach  of  vows.  When  we  consider  how  low  was  the 
tone  of  churchmanship,  everywhere,  in  the  days  of  the  Colo- 
nial Government,  when  the  people  were  so  insufficiently 
supplied  with  clergy,  and  wholly  without  bishops,  we  must 
remember  that  the  miracle  of  revival  was  wrought  by  the  very 
course  which  now  excites  our  censure.  Seabury  stood  out 
for  the  Oriental  Liturgy,  but  did  not  press  the  "  usages"  (so 
called),  and  he  conceded  the  disuse  of  the  Athanasian  Hymn, 
on  grounds  unquestionably  Catholic.  Moreover,  he  gave  con- 
sent when  an  incongruous  civil  name  was  accepted  by  the 
American  Church,  yielding  to  the  spirit  of  the  American  Con- 
stitution, on  grounds  of  obedience  to  the  magistrate.  The 
amount  of  hatred  thus  allayed,  and  of  good-will  that  was  thus 
secured,  can  hardly  be  imagined  in  our  days.  But,  in  those 
days  bitter  feelings  which  the  war  had  engendered  toward 
England  were  added  to  the  sectarian  hatred  of  the  "  Estab- 
lished" Church  and  a  long-cherished  antipathy  to  bishops,  as 
belonging  to  a  peerage,  as  non-republicans,  and  as  filled  with 
star-chamber  plots  against  liberty.  The  first  duty  was  to  dis- 
abuse a  populace  which  had  threatened  to  toss  Bishop  White 
into  the  river,  on  his  arrival  from  England,  and  a  laity  so 
degenerate,  in  some  places,  that  they  were  willing  to  accept 
an  American  episcopate,  only  on  condition  that  no  bishop 
should  reside  in  their  immediate  vicinity. 

Let  us  put  ourselves  back,  then,  into  those  times  and  re- 
member how  plausible  was  the  anticipation  of  Bishop  Pro- 
voost  that,  with  the  old  colonial  families,  the  Church  must  die 
out.  Bishop  Hobart's  struggle  was  to  fortify  the  Church  in 
root  principles,  aud   to  gain  a  parley  with  the  outside  world 


164  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

on  the  maxim,  "  Strike,  but  hear."  He  could  not  have  fore- 
seen the  immense  success  of  his  own  policy,  and  such  amaz- 
ing success  must  justify  his  course  even  where  it  seemed  too 
conciliatory. 

And  this  brings  me  to  a  point  where,  as  I  have  promised, 
I  must  touch  upon  the  secret  of  that  decline  of  influence  and 
prestige  to  which  his  great  name  has  been  temporarily  sub- 
jected.    The  Church,  to  use  the  conversational  language  of 
one  of  our  venerated  president-bishops,  has  "caught  more 
than   she  has   been    able    to   cure."     Thousands    have    been 
brought  into  the  Church  whose  antecedents  were  unfavorable 
to  all  just  conceptions  of  her  history,  her  true  character,  and 
her  genuine  doctrines.     Such  converts  have  been  too  often 
the   subjects  of  violent  reaction.     New  wine    in   unprepared 
vessels  has  caused  them  to  burst.     Violent  changes  in  relig- 
ion  generally  tend    to    extremes,  and   the  sobering  and  re- 
straining influences  of  the  prayer-book  have  been  conspicuous 
in  nothing  more  emphatically  than  in  the  power  it  has  exer- 
cised over  thousands  in  checking  their  natural  fanaticism  and 
excess.     Still  it  is  true  that  multitudes  have  opened  their  eyes 
as  upon  Paradise,  in  emerging  from  a  dreary  Calvinism   into 
her  communion,  and  not  content  with  crying,  "  It  is  good  to 
be  here,"  have  been  so  inebriated  with  the  new  wine  as  to 
have  made  themselves  examples  of  the  truth,  "  therein  is  ex- 
cess."    They  have  educated  themselves  into  mere  "  aestheti- 
cism,"  and  have  fancied  every  caprice  of  taste  and  fancy  to 
be  genuine  Churchmanship.     Now,  when  the  debased  archi- 
tectural fashions  of  a  former  generation  were  reformed  by  our 
own,  the  general  outcry  was  :  "Whence  came  these  three- 
decker  abominations  ;"  and  when  the  answer  was  that  "  Bishop 
Hobart    introduced    them";  "so   much   the  worse    for   the 
bishop,"  was  the   rejoinder,  and  his  reputation  suffered  loss. 
Thousands  to  whom  the  bishop  was  but  a  name,  who  knew 
nothing  of  his  work,  and  who  little  suspected  that  they  them- 
selves would  never  have  found  their  way  to  the  Church  but 
for  his  concessions  to  his  times,  have  learned  to  speak  slight- 
ingly of  him  and  to  associate  him  with  the  "  three-deckers," 
as  if  that  were  his  only  contribution  to  American  Churchman- 


SKETCHES   OF   THE  BISHOPS.  165 

ship.  It  was,  perhaps,  his  only  ill-advised  measure,  and  it 
was  a  missionary  measure  merely  ;  directed  to  a  particular 
end,  and  guided  by  St.  Paul's  prudential  maxim  of  becoming 
"  all  things  to  all  men,"  to  gain  the  more.     Look  at  the  facts  : 

All  the  churches  in  New  York,  as  I  recollect  them  from 
boyhood,  and  I  think  the  same  was  essentially  true  of  Phila- 
delphia, had  the  merit  of  a  dignified  arrangement  of  the  altar 
and  (nominal)  chancel,  by  which  the  Eucharist  was  made  the 
noblest  feature  of  worship.  Thus,  the  Trinity  Church  of  that 
day  had  no  "  chancel  "  proper,  but  a  grave  and  comely  altar, 
under  the  great  window,  with  ample  railings,  where  the  chil- 
dren were  catechised,  and  where,  of  course,  confirmation  was 
administered  and  the  Holy  Communion  received.  But,  all 
this  was  behind  the  pulpit,  which  stood  on  its  graceful  stem 
at  the  head  of  the  mid-alley.  Under  it  was  the  huge  reading- 
desk,  which,  with  the  pulpit  stairway,  hid  the  altar  effectu- 
ally from  a  large  portion  of  the  congregation.  Strangers 
coming  in  and  seating  themselves  near  the  doors  could  see 
nothing  that  went  on  in  the  chancel.  Confirmations,  ordina- 
tions, and  other  Episcopal  offices  were  lost  upon  the  people  in 
a  large  measure.  The  bishop's  sermon  at  Trenton,  on  "  the 
Excellence  of  the  Church,"  was  little  appreciated,  so  far  as  its 
liturgic  expositions  were  concerned,  because  men  could  not 
see  with  their  eyes  "  whether  these  things  were  so."  The 
bishop  devised  a  plan  which  would  remedy  this,  and  which 
had  the  merit,  when  the  priest  went  to  the  Holy  Table  to  be- 
gin the  Ante-Communion,  of  making  him  visible  at  that  all- 
important  and  noblest  part  of  the  ordinary  morning  service. 
In  my  admired  and  beloved  old  St.  Paul's  Chapel  the  clergy 
used  to  disappear  at  this  crisis  and  give  forth  the  Decalogue 
as  a  voice  only  ;  from  some  of  the  best  positions  in  the  Church 
we  could  hear,  but  could  not  see  them  at  all. 

I  remember  the  change  made  at  St.  John's  Chapel,  where 
the  experiment  was  first  tried.  It  caused  a  sensation.  Chil- 
dren were  delighted  to  see  the  clergyman  enter  the  pulpit  from 
a  door  in  the  wall,  and  others  were  glad  to  find  the  entire 
service  such  as  they  could  see  and  hear  and  enjoy.  The 
"  splendors  "  of  St.  Thomas's,  as  they  astonished  Churchmen 


l66  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

in  1826  with  new  conceptions  of  "  Gothic,"  sealed  the  success 
of  the  new  plan.*  Of  its  kind,  the  lofty  pulpit  of  that  church 
was  a  superb  bit  of  architectural  effect,  and  the  chancel  ex- 
hibited the  ministrations  to  the  eye  with  delightful  impres- 
sions. Almost  immediately  the  design  was  copied  ;  but  the 
bishop  was  then  in  Europe,  and  was  not  answerable  for  the 
furore  that  followed  nor  for  the  absurdities  to  which  it  led. 
In  his  own  parish  it  was  not  introduced  any  further.  Trinity 
Church  and  St.  Paul's  remained  as  they  were  aforetime,  until 
after  his  decease.  But  because  of  this,  the  unexampled  services 
of  Hobart  have  been  decried  and  the  merest  sciolists  in  Cath- 
olicity have  talked  him  down  as  "  good  enough  for  his  times," 
but  an  influence  of  the  past.  Again,  I  remark,  that  in  all 
probability  the  single  mistake  was  nevertheless  the  necessary 
precursor  to  all  that  has  since  been  gained.  It  popularized 
the  offices  and  ritual  of  the  Church.  Then  it  led  to  the  study 
of  the  liturgic  system  and  of  antiquity  ;  thus,  the  temporary 
evil  corrected  itself  and  led  us  to  restore,  not  what  was  the 
use  of  our  colonial  fathers,  but  rather  "  what  was  in  the  old 
time  before  them." 

I  must  think  that  a  wise  Providence  was  guiding  and  di- 
recting the  Church  in  that  day,  by  a  way  that  they  knew  not, 
to  greater  results  than  we  ourselves,  as  yet,  have  faith  to  per- 
ceive. If  ever  our  imported  Romanism  is  to  be  reformed  and 
our  millions  of  population  assimilated  as  Christians,  I  doubt 
not  this  American  Church  is  the  treasure-house  of  God's  lov- 
ing designs  for  such  great  salvation.  And,  I  believe,  no  less, 
that  there  was  a  time  when  He  "  fed  us  with  milk  and  not 
with  strong  meat ;"  and  that  He  has  always  raised  up  those 
who  were  able  to  meet  the  wants  of  our  progressive  stages 
and  to  teach  us,  as  did  our  Master  himself,  as  men  were 
"  able  to  hear  it."  In  this  great  process  of  divine  preparation 
for  the  wonders  yet  to  be  seen,  Bishop  Hobart  was  raised  up 
as  a  mighty  instrumentality  and  a  great  gift  of  God  to  his 
countrymen. 

*  This  Church  was  incorrect  in  composition  and  in  details,  but  it  led  to  great 
advances.  It  was  the  first  suggestion  of  open-roofs  (only  partially  exemplified), 
and  it  was  strikingly  beautiful  as  a  whole.     It  was  due  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  McVickar. 


SKETCHES   OF   THE   BISHOPS.  167 

If  it  be  not  altogether  true,  as  is  sometimes  said,  that  "  the 
world  knows  nothing  of  its  greatest  men,"  it  is  certainly  true 
that  the  world  rarely  recognizes  its  greatest  benefactors. 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  elements  infused  into  the 
religious  life  of  Americans  by  the  influences  that  went  forth 
from  the  lives  of  Seabury  and  Hobart  have  revolutionized  the 
popular  mind  upon  questions  innumerable,  pertaining  to  doc- 
trine and  duty,  upon  the  minor  morals,  and  even  upon  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  State.  In  this  last  particular,  less  obviously 
indeed,  but,  as  a  mere  instance,  take  the  unpopular  course  of 
the  American  Church  in  the  late  war.  Contributing  most  ef- 
ficiently the  personal  wealth,  the  valor,  and  the  wise  coun- 
sels of  her  sons  to  the  national  cause,  she  yet  made  herself 
the  only  religious  corporation  in  America  that  maintained 
the  constitutional  principle  of  the  entire  separation  of  the 
Church  from  political  issues,  and  hence  became  the  strong- 
est bond  between  North  and  South,  when  the  war  was  over. 
By  the  instantaneous  reunion  of  her  people  in  one  national 
Communion,  she  illustrated  the  remark  of  Calhoun,  that, 
even  in  his  day,  the  religious  estrangements  of  North  and 
South  had  become  as  marked  as  other  differences,  save  only 
in  this  Anglo-American  Church.  He  recognized  her,  at  that 
date,  as  the  only  existing  religious  link  between  the  popula- 
tions separated  by  "  Mason  and  Dixon's  Line." 

With  marvellous  foresight,  Bishop  Hobart  had  maintained 
this  great  principle  of  our  Constitution,  when  the  Mayor  of 
New  York,  very  innocently,  prescribed  to  the  churches  of  the 
city  a  participation,  quite  proper  in  itself,  in  the  solemnities 
attending  the  funeral  of  the  great  Governor  Clinton.  Nobody 
was  more  ready  than  he  to  honor  Clinton,  but  he  saw  to 
what  it  must  tend  if  the  civic  authorities  were  permitted  to 
issue  mandaments  to  his  clergy.  With  equal  intrepidity,  when 
the  Masonic  Fraternity,  at  Detroit,  came  forth,  with  kindly 
intent,  in  their  insignia,  to  assist  at  the  laying  of  the  corner- 
stone of  a  church,  he  declined  the  mingling  of  their  ceremonies 
with  the  offices  of  the  Church.  It  must  have  pained  him 
deeply  to  appear  ungrateful  for  what  was  intended  in  his 
honor,  but  all  "  entangling  alliances  "  of  the  Church  with  the 


l68  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

world  were  to  be  resisted  on  principle  in  his  conscientious 
opinion,  and  whatever  he  felt  to  be  right  he  never  shrunk  from 
enforcing  at  any  cost  of  personal  popularity. 

Perhaps  the  intensely  patriotic  character  of  Hobart  would 
never  have  been  fully  understood,  but  for  the  painful  incidents 
that  followed  his  sermon  on  returning  from  his  European 
tour  in  1825.  He  had  been  received  in  England  with  open 
arms,  as  the  first  prelate  of  the  American  succession  who  had 
been  seen  in  the  mother  land  that  imparted  it.  When,  in  the 
sermon  referred  to,  he  indulged  himself,  with  his  usual  ardor, 
in  stating  the  vast  advantage  we  enjoy  as  a  non-established 
Church,  and  in  drawing  vividly  the  contrast  between  the 
blessings  of  American  republicanism  and  foreign  monarchies, 
he  was  bitterly  reproached  in  England,  as  if  he  had  ungrate- 
fully returned  the  lavish  hospitalities  he  there  received  and 
had  signalized  his  first  opportunity,  in  returning  to  his  own 
land,  by  ungenerous  reflections  upon  the  maternal  country  to 
which  our  Prayer-Book  itself  recognizes  our  vast  obligations. 
He  was  nobly  defended,  even  in  England,  however,  by  the 
kindred  hand  and  heart  of  the  truly  illustrious  Hugh  James 
Rose,  whose  early  death  was  so  great  and  mysterious  an 
affliction  to  the  Church  of  England.  And,  the  only  lasting 
memory  of  the  controversy  that  was  stirred  up  at  the  time, 
has  been  the  indisputable  fact  that  Hobart  was  an  American 
in  every  bone  and  fibre  of  his  nature. 

The  life  of  Bishop  Hobart  remains  to  be  written  ;  for  the 
innumerable  books  and  pamphlets  that  came  forth  on  his  de- 
cease were,  necessarily,  imperfect  and  suited  only  to  express 
the  emotions  of  the  moment.  These  were,  indeed,  unex- 
ampled, and  such  as  carried  away  all  gainsaying,  before  the 
fact,  so  universally  felt,  that  "a  great  man  and  a  prince  had 
fallen  in  Israel."  It  ought  to  be  noted  that  his  death  illustra- 
ted the  master-principles  of  his  life  in  a  striking  manner,  not 
only  by  the  holy  and  beautiful  submission  with  which  he 
yielded  his  life,  in  the  midst  of  his  work  and  afar  from  his 
beloved  home,  but,  also,  by  several  minor  matters  not  un- 
worthy of  mention.  His  intense  love  of  nature,  and  his  ability 
to  commune  with  God  through  its  instrumentality,  were  strik- 


SKETCHES   OF   THE   BISHOPS.  169 

ingly  instanced  when  he  begged  to  be  turned  so  that  he  might 
look  at  the  setting  sun,  in  all  its  splendors,  as  it  sank  upon 
his  eyesight  for  the  last  time.  So,  when  he  stopped  the 
officiating  priest  as  he  was  about  to  receive  the  Holy  Viaticum 
and  insisted  upon  certain  Liturgical  proprieties,  not  for  cere- 
monial effect,  but  for  practical  bent 'fit,  in  his  Confession  of  Sin, 
there  was  a  memorable  disclosure  of  the  whole  spirit  with 
which  he  clung  to  the  Liturgy,  as  the  very  breath  of  his  in- 
ward life.  It  is  further  a  most  memorable  fact,  that  he  died  a 
martyr  to  his  convictions  as  to  the  best  way  of  promoting 
the  movement  for  temperance  then  stirring  the  whole  country. 
He  had  opposed,  for  obvious  reasons,  the  excesses  of  that 
movement,  and  was  unwilling  to  subject  himself,  as  a  Chris- 
tian, to  moral  pledges  which  he  regarded  as  superfluous  in  the 
light  of  the  Baptismal  vows.  But,  for  himself,  he  had  resolved 
to  practice  entire  abstinence  upon  his  official  visitations,  if 
not  at  other  times,  lest  "the  ministry  should  be  blamed," 
and  as  an  example  and  a  warning  to  his  clergy.  The  lime- 
stone water  of  the  Western  region  of  the  diocese,  however, 
had  brought  on  a  painful  attack  which  rapidly  became  a 
virulent  dysentery.  At  Rochester,  he  was  warned  to  mingle  a 
little  brandy  with  the  water  used  at  table,  but  he  refused. 
"  Bishop,"  said  his  host,  "you  are  already  a  sick  man,  and  if 
you  persist,  you  will  die  before  you  reach  your  home."  "Then 
I  will  die,"  answered  Hobart,  with  a  smile,  but  very  seriously  : 
"  I  know  what  duty  requires  of  me,  in  these  times  of  public 
excitement,  and  in  view  of  the  stand  I  have  taken."  He 
would  not  inflict  upon  the  Church  the  reproach  of  a  dram- 
drinking  bishop,  and  so  he  died  in  harness,  a  witness  to  the 
master-principle  of  his  life. 

If  I  have  too  much  extended  this  narrative  it  will  be  par- 
doned, I  trust,  by  all  who  reflect  that  the  Church  has  but  one 
Bishop  Hobart  ;  and  that  noteworthy  as  have  been  the 
services  of  many  others  of  her  illustrious  sons,  it  was  his 
mission,  once  and  for  all,  to  uplift  the  American  Church  from 
the  low  estate  into  which  it  had  fallen  and  from  the  depen- 
dent and  humiliating  position  that  had  dwarfed  it  in  colonial 
days.     So  far  as  our  dear  Church  is  the  American    Church 


I/O  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

pre-eminently,  and  for  the  fact  that  it  was  so  early  brought 
into  contact  and  influence  with  the  thought  and  the  organiza- 
tions of  American  Christianity,  our  lasting  gratitude  is  due  to 
the  third  Bishop  of  New  York. 

Note. — For  the  statements  here  made  independently  of  my  own  recollections 
and  the  information  gained  in  conversation  with  others,  I  have  relied  chiefly  upon 
the  biographical  memoirs  of  my  venerated  friends,  Drs.  Berrian  and  McVickar,  now 
long  since  deceased.  Much  interesting  reflex  light  has  been  thrown  upon  the 
English  episode  here  referred  to  by  the  publication  of  Churton's  Memoirs  of  Joshua 
Watson,  London,  1863. 

I  have  said  nothing  of  the  various  portraits  of  the  bishop,  although  desired  to 
do  so,  because  I  cannot  speak  of  them  with  the  certainty  that  several  others  are 
not  in  existence,  and  because  I  am  not  sure  as  to  the  artist,  save  only  in  a  single 
instance.  (1)  There  is  a  very  interesting  likeness  of  the  bishop  which  must  have 
been  taken  soon  after  his  consecration,  and  which  was  formerly  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  late  Rev.  John  Murray  Guion,  of  Cayuga  Co.,  N.  Y.  (2)  An  in- 
ferior painting,  which  was  no  favorite  with  the  bishop's  family,  is  now  in  the  Semi- 
nary at  New  York.  (3)  The  portrait  by  which  the  bishop  is  popularly  known  was 
by  Paradise.  A  fine  engraving  was  made  from  it  by  Durand,  and  innumerable 
smaller  copies  have  been  made  after  that.  It  is  an  excellent  map  of  the  features, 
but  fails  in  their  expression,  not  only  as  to  their  fire  when  animated,  but  also  as 
to  their  sweetness  in  repose.  I  think  I  have  heard  that  the  Guion  portrait  was  by 
Jarvis  ;  it  is  certainly  worthy  of  being  copied,  or  made  known  by  the  burin,  as  it 
possesses  historical  interest. 


/^jj^£^c^^t 


SKETCHES   OF   THE   BISHOPS.  171 

THE  FOURTH  BISHOP  OF  NEW  YORK.* 

The  Rt.  Rev.  Benjamin  Tredwell  Onderdonk,  D.D.,  fourth 
Bishop  of  New  York,  was  born  July  15,  1791,  and  bap- 
tized in  Trinity  Parish,  New  York,  August  19,  1791.  He  was 
the  son  of  Dr.  John  Onderdonk,  a  much-respected  physician 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  was  brother  to  the  Rt.  Rev. 
Henry  Ustick  Onderdonk,  D.D.,  sometime  Bishop  of  Penn- 
sylvania. His  wife,  who  at  the  writing  of  this  paper  still  sur- 
vives him,  was  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Henry  Mos- 
crop.  The  children  of  this  marriage  were  William,  Henry 
M.,  Benjamin  T.,  Hobart  and  Elizabeth.  He  graduated  in 
1809  from  Columbia  College,  from  which,  in  18 16,  he  received 
the  degree  of  M.A.,  and  in  1826  that  of  S.T.D. ;  and  he  served 


"^  ^\   <yz^<s^ 


as  a  trustee  of  that  institution  from  1824  to  1853.  In  his 
twenty-second  year  he  was  ordained  deacon  by  Bishop  Ho- 
bart, by  whom,  also,  he  was  admitted  to  the  priesthood  on 
attaining  the  canonical  age.  While  yet  a  deacon  he  was 
made  an  assistant  minister  of  Trinity  Church,  retaining  that 
position  while  in  priest's  orders,  and  also  during  the  first 
part  of  his  episcopate  until  the  year  1836,  an  arrangement  re- 
sulting from  the  liberality  of  Trinity  Church,  rendered  need- 
ful by  the  insufficiency  of  the  Episcopal  Fund  prior  to  that 
date.  He  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  New  York  on  the  death 
of  Bishop  Hobart  in  1830,  and  until  1838  his  jurisdiction  ex- 
tended throughout  the  State.  The  Diocese  of  Western  New 
York  being  set  off  at  that  time,  his  jurisdiction  for  the  remain- 
der of  his  episcopate  covered  the  rest  of  the  State,  including 
both  that  part  now  known  as  the  Diocese  of  New  York  and 
also  those  parts  now  included  within  the  Dioceses  of  Central 
New  York,  Albany,  and  Long  Island.  In  182 1  and  1822  he 
was  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  History  in  the  General  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  and  from  1821   until  his  death  he  held,  in 

*  Chiefly  an  abstract  from  the  discourse  delivered  at  the  funeral  of  Bishop 
Onderdonk  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Seabury,  D.D.,  rector  of  the  Church  of  the  An- 
nunciation (New  York,  1861). 


172  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

the  same  institution,  the  Chair  of  the  Nature,  Ministry  and 
Polity  of  the  Church,  now  that  of  Ecclesiastical  Polity  and 
Law.  Out  of  consideration,  however,  for  the  feelings  of 
others,  he  refrained  from  exercising  the  duties  of  the  pro- 
fessorship after  the  sentence  imposed  upon  him  in  1845,  al- 
though his  right  to  do  so  was  not  affected  by  that  sentence, 
under  the  law  either  of  the  Church  or  of  the  Seminary. 

Until   his  consecration   opened   for  him   a   wider    sphere 
Bishop  Onderdonk  was  distinguished  as  an  able  and  laborious 
parish  priest.     His  powers  for  work,  both  bodily  and  mental, 
and  his  unremitting  diligence  in  the  use  of  those  powers,  were 
alike  remarkable.     His  visitations  among  those  committed  to 
his  charge,  especially  the  poor,  the  sick,  and  the  afflicted,  were 
assiduous.     His  catechising  and  preaching  were  constant  and 
effective.     Not  so  eloquent  in  popular  estimation  as  those  of 
Bishop  Hobart,  his  discourses  were,  nevertheless,  always  ac- 
knowledged to  be  sound,  judicious,  and  instructive.   His  teach- 
ing then   and   throughout   his  ministry  was  based  upon  the 
doctrines  of  the  fall  of  man  ;  of  his  redemption,  by  the  vol- 
untary humiliation  and  sacrifice  of  the  Son  of  God,  to  the  ca- 
pacity of  pardon  and  eternal  life  ;  of  the  establishment  of  the 
Church  on  earth  as  the  means  of  preserving  the  true  religion, 
and  of  drawing  from  its  Head  in  heaven,  through  the  minis- 
try and  sacraments  of  His  appointment,  that  spiritual  influ- 
ence which  is  necessary  to  open    to  man   an   access  to  the 
Father,  through  the  Son  and  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  on  the  pre- 
scribed conditions  of  the  Gospel   covenant.      His  discourses 
in  the  pulpit,  and  the   many  papers,  expository  of  the  doc- 
trines, usages,  canons,  and  rubrics  of  the  Church,  which   he 
constantly  contributed  to  the  press,  were  an  expansion  and 
application  of  these   principles.     Upon   these   principles   he 
shaped  his  course,  both  as  bishop  of  the   diocese  and  as  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Bishops  and  of  General  Convention  ; 
and  his  patient  submission  to  the  discipline  of  the  Church  was 
the  legitimate  fruit  of  the  same  principles. 

Unlike  that  of  most  others,  the  life  of  Bishop  Onderdonk 
was  divided  into  two  distinct  portions  :  the  one  distinguished 
chiefly  by  resolute  action,  the  other  distinguished  exclusively 
by  patient  suffering.     His  active  life  extended  from  1812  to 


SKETCHES   OF   THE   BISHOPS.  173 

1845  J  ar>d  its  influence  was  important,  extended,  and  lasting. 
Hardly  less  so,  in  its  own  way,  was  that  of  the  remaining 
sixteen  years  which  were  passed  in  seclusion. 

In  October,  1844,  Bishop  Onderdonk  was  at  the  zenith  of 
his  fame.  At  the  expiration  of  three  months  from  this  time, 
accused  of  acts  of  immorality,  not  by  his  own  diocese,  but  by 
the  bishops  of  three  remote  dioceses,  he  was,  by  a  court  com- 
posed of  bishops,  suspended  from  the  exercise  of  his  ministry, 
and  from  the  office  of  a  bishop  in  the  Church  of  God.  This 
sentence  was  passed  on  the  3d  of  January,  1845,  being  Friday. 
On  Sunday,  the  5th  of  the  same  month,  he  attended  the  di- 
vine service  at  the  Church  of  the  Annunciation,  and  received 
at  the  hands  of  Bishop  Gadsden  of  South  Carolina,  who  offi- 
ciated there  on  that  day,  the  sacrament  of  the  Body  and  Blood 
of  Christ.  The  sentence  which  on  moral  grounds  had  ad- 
judged him  unworthy  of  the  sacred  ministry,  did  not  debar 
him  from  the  Holy  Communion,  thus  publicly  and  with  ex- 
press episcopal  sanction  administered  to  him  ;  and  in  the 
communion  of  the  Church,  and,  by  consequence,  in  the  com- 
munion of  those  bishops  by  whom  he  had  been  condemned, 
he  continued  unto  his  life's  end. 

All  of  the  offences  alleged  against  the  bishop  were  alleged 
to  have  been  committed  between  June,  1837,  and  July,  1842. 
The  law  under  which  he  was  tried  was  enacted  more  than  two 
years  after  the  last  of  these  dates,  in  1844.*  It  provided  for 
sentence  either  of  admonition,  suspension,  or  deposition.  Of 
the  seventeen  bishops  who  composed  the  Court  six  voted  at 
first  for  admonition,  three  of  the  remaining  eleven  voting  for 
suspension,  and  eight  for  deposition.  The  six,  concurring 
afterwards  with  the  three,  appear  to  have  consented  to  sus- 
pension to  avoid  deposition.  The  canon  did  not  define  sus- 
pension, or  state  whether  it  was  to  be  from  the  ministry  en- 
tirely, or  from  the  episcopate.  The  sentence  was  that  of 
suspension  both  from  the  office  of  a  bishop  and  from  all  the 
functions  of  the  sacred  ministry.     It  was  unlimited  either  by 

*  Canon  III.  of  1844.  This  was  the  first  canon  ever  enacted  by  General 
Convention  for  the  trial  of  bishops.  It  repealed  one  (Canon  IV.  of  1841)  entitled 
"on  the  trial  of  bishops,"  but  providing  only  for  their  presentment  (see  the 
canon),  and  was  itself  repealed  in  1856. 


174  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

term  of  time  or  condition  ;  nor  did  the  canon  provide  for  any- 
possible  revocation.  In  the  next  General  Convention  (1847) 
it  was  enacted  that  the  bishops  entitled  to  seats  in  the  House 
of  Bishops  may  altogether  remit  and  terminate  any  judicial 
sentence  which  may  have  been  imposed  by  bishops  acting 
collectively  as  a  judicial  tribunal,  or  modify  the  same  so  as  to 
designate  a  precise  period  of  time  or  other  specific  contin- 
gency, on  the  occurrence  of  which  such  sentence  shall  cease 
and  be  of  no  further  force  or  effect  ;  *  and  that  whenever  the 
penalty  of  suspension  shall  be  inflicted  on  a  bishop,  priest,  or 
deacon  in  this  Church,  the  sentence  shall  specify  on  what 
terms  or  at  what  time  the  penalty  shall  cease.f  The  sen- 
tence of  Bishop  Onderdonk  was  neither  remitted  nor  modified. 
He  remained  under  its  operation  for  more  than  sixteen  years 
(1 845-1 861)  after  the  Church  had  provided  that  no  such  sen- 
tence should  be  pronounced  in  future  on  any  clergyman  within 
her  jurisdiction  ;  and  for  nearly  fourteen  years  (1 847-1 861)  after 
the  General  Convention,  by  empowering  the  bishops  to  remit 
it,  had  done  all  that  a  legislative  body  could  do  for  its  removal. 
Of  the  charges  on  which  he  was  condemned  the  bishop 
constantly  maintained  his  innocence.  He  regarded  his  sen- 
tence as  both  unjust  and  illegal,  but  he  made  no  attempt  to 
oppose  or  evade  it.  An  appeal  to  the  civil  courts  was  often 
urged  upon  him,  and  advocated  by  most  eminent  counsel, 
but  it  was  steadfastly  declined  as  inconsistent  with  his 
sense  of  duty  to  the  Church.  With  equal  firmness  he  con- 
stantly refused  to  comply  with  the  wish  of  those  who  (either 
from  unwillingness  that  he  should  ever  exercise  the  functions 
of  his  office,  or  as  a  means  of  securing  the  remission  of  his 
sentence)  desired  him  to  resign  his  jurisdiction.  He  scrupu- 
lously conformed  both  to  the  letter  and  the  spirit  of  his  sen- 
tence ;  and  withdrawing  himself  as  much  as  possible  from  the 
world,  he  waited  in  patient  humility  for  the  clemency  which 
was  never  to  be  shown.  Three  ineffectual  movements  were 
made  by  memorial  and  formal  address  to  induce  the  bishops 
to  use  the  power  vested  in  them  for  his  relief.  And  when 
the  last  memorial,  supported  by  a  resolution  of  the  conven- 
tion of  his  diocese  was  rejected  by  the  bishops  at  the  General 
*  Canon  II.  of  1847.  \  Canon  III.  of  1847. 


SKETCHES   OF   THE   BISHOPS.  175 

Convention  of  1859,  tne  remaining  earthly  hope  of  his  life 
was  quenched.  His  health  from  this  time  gradually  declined  ; 
his  age  seemed  visibly  to  increase  upon  him  ;  and  it  was 
not  long  before  his  final  illness  overpowered  him.  Toward 
the  close  of  that  illness  he  humbly  professed,  in  answer  to 
the  questions  proposed  in  the  Office  for  the  Visitation  of 
the  Sick,  ministered  to  him  by  one  of  his  presbyters,  his 
friend,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Francis  Vinton,  his  forgiveness  and 
charity  for  all ;  his  sincere  repentance  of  sin ;  his  sole  hope 
in  Jesus  Christ  his  Saviour;  but  added  in  solemn  earnestness, 
as  he  fixed  his  eyes  upon  his  interrogator :  "  Of  the  crimes 
of  which  I  have  been  accused  and  for  which  I  have  been 
condemned  my  conscience  acquits  me  in  the  sight  of  God." 
This  was  on  Friday,  April  26,  1861.  On  the  Sunday  follow- 
ing he  received  the  Viaticum  at  the  hands  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Samuel  Seabury,  the  rector  of  his  parish  church,  and  on 
Tuesday  of  the  same  week,  April  30th,  he  departed  this  life. 
His  funeral  rites,  solemnized  in  Trinity  Church  on  Tuesday 
of  the  week  following  (such  as  no  one  who  witnessed  could 
ever  forget),  testified  to  the  love  and  reverence  in  which  he 
was  held  by  the  great  body  of  his  people,  both  clergy  and 
laity.  Watched  through  the  night  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel 
Roosevelt  Johnson  and  other  loving  friends,  his  body  was  on 
the  following  day  laid  to  rest  at  Trinity  Cemetery. 

Few  have  passed  through  such  a  fight  of  afflictions  ;  few 
have  had,  and  few  have  better  used,  such  opportunities  to 
exemplify  the  highest  graces  of  the  Christian  life,  as  fell  to 
the  lot  of  this  venerable  man.  In  his  twofold  testimony  of 
action  and  suffering,  undertaken  and  endured  in  the  simple 
desire  to  promote  the  Christian  edification  of  the  clergy  and 
people  committed  to  his  charge,  few  have  better  illustrated 
than  he  the  words  which  our  Lord  applied  to  the  Holy  Bap- 
tist, and  which  were  used  as  the  text  for  the  discourse  deliv- 
ered at  his  funeral :  "  He  was  a  burning  and  a  shining  light, 
and  ye  were  willing  for  a  season  to  rejoice  in  his  light." 


176  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

THE    FIFTH    BISHOP    OF   NEW   YORK.* 

I  AM  thankful  to  associate  the  name  of  my  dear  father, 
with  this  memoir  of  his  lifelong  and  beloved  friend.  Drawn 
with  the  discriminating  hand  of  intimate  friendship,  it  is  so 
truly  the  picture  of  an  "  old  master,"  that  I  do  not  presume 
to  spoil  it  by  any  touches  of  a  modern  brush.  And  yet  I  am 
glad  to  add  to  it  the  tribute  of  my  boyish  and  reverent  recol- 
lection of  Bishop  Wainwright,  in  all  the  majesty  of  his  digni- 
fied manhood  and  all  the  courtesy  and  charm  of  his  character, 
as  a  gentleman,  as  a  distinguished  citizen,  as  scholar,  pastor, 
and  bishop. 

Jonathan  Mayhew  Wainwright  was  born  in  Liver- 
pool, England,  on  the  24th  day  of  February,   1792.     Peter 


Wainwright,  his  father,  was  an  English  merchant,  who  had 
established  himself  not  long  after  the  War  of  Independence 
in  the  city  of  Boston. 

Here  he  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Jonathan  May- 
hew,  D.D.,  a  Congregational  minister.  Dr.  Mayhew  was  a 
descendant  of  Sir  Thomas  Mayhew,  one  of  the  early  settlers 
of  the  country,  and  the  first  Governor  of  Martha's  Vineyard. 
He  was  a  Unitarian  in  doctrine,  and  bitterly  opposed  to  Epis- 
copacy. He  took  an  active  part  against  its  introduction  into 
America  ;  and  was  engaged  in  an  extensive  controversy  with 
Archbishop  Seeker,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  Bradbury  Chandler, 
of  New  Jersey,  and  others.  An  anecdote  related  by  a  ven- 
erable presbyter  illustrates  well  the  relation  which  Dr. 
Mayhew  held  toward  the  Church,  and  sheds  a  half-prophetic 
ray  upon  his  grandson's  course.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Eaton,  now 
more  than  forty  years  ago,  was  dining  with  a  friend  at  Cam- 
bridge. In  the  room  was  a  portrait  of  Dr.  Mayhew  with  an 
inverted  mitre  in  one  corner.  "  What  a  pity,"  said  the  guest, 
"  that  Dr.  Mayhew  should  have  felt  such  enmity  toward  the 

*  Extract   from  the  memoir  of  Bishop  Wainwright,  written  by  Bishop  Doane 
of  New  Jersey. 


yc^s-  /y%/7?' 


SKETCHES   OF  THE   BISHOPS.  1 77 

Church  as  to  have  a  mitre  upside  down  inserted  in  his  por- 
trait!  "  "  Oh,  well,"  said  the  lady  of  the  house,  "perhaps 
his  grandson,  Jonathan  Wainwright,  may  turn  it  back  again." 
"  And  wear  it  himself,"  said  Dr.  Eaton,  happily.  The  grand- 
son had  then  lately  graduated  at  Harvard  University,  and  had 
no  thought  of  entering  the  ministry.  The  first  school  to 
which  Jonathan  was  sent  was  taught  by  the  daughter  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Lewin,  a  Dissenting  Minister  in  Liverpool.  From 
there  he  went  to  the  school  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hughes,  a  clergy- 
man at  Ruthven  in  North  Wales.  To  his  instructions  and 
example  he  always  ascribed  his  attachment  to  the  Church. 
No  doubt,  much  was  also  due  to  the  influence  of  his  excellent 
godmother,  Mrs.  Hartwell,  with  whom  he  often  spent  his 
holidays  at  Holyhead. 

In  1803  Peter  Wainwright  returned  to  America  with  his 
family.  Jonathan,  then  eleven  years  old,  was  sent  to  the 
Academy  at  Sandwich,  on  Cape  Cod,  at  first  under  the  tui- 
tion of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Burr,  and  afterward  of  Mr.  Elisha  Clapp, 
under  whose  direction  he  was  prepared  for  college.  From 
the  academy  at  Sandwich  young  Wainwright  went,  in  1808, 
to  Harvard  College  at  Cambridge,  where  he  graduated  in 
1812.     Of  his  college  life  no  details  have  been  obtained. 

It  is  believed  that  during  his  academic  life  he  indulged 
the  love  of  sacred  music,  which  was  a  passion  in  him,  by  act- 
ing gratuitously  as  the  organist  of  Christ  Church,  at  which  he 
worshiped.  Soon  after  his  graduation  he  was  appointed  a 
Proctor  of  the  University  and  instructor  in  rhetoric.  He 
held  this  office  for  several  years  and  discharged  its  duties 
with  entire  acceptance. 

Not  long  after  he  had  graduated,  he  entered  the  office  of 
the  late  William  Sullivan,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  as  a  student  of 
law ;  but  the  study  was  not  congenial  to  his  taste,  and  he 
abandoned  it.  Determining  to  devote  his  life  to  the  work  of 
the  sacred  ministry,  he  became  a  candidate  for  holy  orders, 
and  pursued  his  theological  studies,  chiefly  under  the  care  of 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Gardiner,  rector  of  Trinity  Church,  Boston. 

In  the  year  1816  he  was  ordained  deacon  in  St.  John's 
Church,  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  by  Bishop  Griswold.  His 
12 


178  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

first  parish,  to  which  he  was  called  while  yet  a  deacon,  was 
Christ  Church,  Hartford,  Connecticut.  While  there  he  was 
admitted  to  the  priesthood  by  Bishop  Hobart,  who,  in  a 
vacancy  of  the  diocese,  had  provisional  charge  of  it ;  and  he 
was  instituted  rector  of  the  parish  by  the  same  prelate,  on 
the  29th  day  of  May,  181 8.  It  was  his  first  love,  and  he  was 
entirely  happy  in  it  ;  and  the  more,  when  the  light  of  human 
endearment  came  in  upon  his  hearth  to  brighten  and  to  sanc- 
tify it.  He  was  married  in  August,  1818,  to  Amelia  Maria, 
the  daughter  of  Timothy  Phelps,  Esq.,  of  New  Haven. 

In  the  year  1819,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Church  Brownell,  one 
of  the  assistant  ministers  of  Trinity  Church,  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  was  chosen  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  of  Connecti- 
cut, which,  since  the  death  of  Bishop  Jarvis  in  181 3,  had 
continued  vacant.  To  the  vacancy  in  Trinity  Church,  New 
York,  thus  created,  Mr.  Wainwright  was  called  on  the  25th 
day  of  November,  in  that  year.  During  his  connection  with 
this  Mother  of  our  Churches,  he  declined  an  invitation  to  the 
rectorship  of  Grace  Church,  in  New  York.  But,  when  the 
call  was  repeated,  he  deemed  it  his  duty  to  accept  it.  This 
was  in  1821.  With  all  the  considerations  which  bound  him  to 
the  position  which  he  held  so  happily,  it  was  natural  that  he 
should  yield  to  this  renewed  invitation  to  a  parish  second  to 
none  but  that  with  which  he  was  connected,  in  importance 
and  influence  for  good. 

He  was,  with  all  his  gentleness  and  yieldingness,  a  man  of 
independent  mind,  and  bold  and  resolute  in  action,  however 
mild  and  affable  in  manner.  He  needed,  to  make  full  proof 
of  his  ministry,  a  separate  parish.  He  had  it  at  Grace  Church, 
and  he  made  it  the  scene  of  the  most  assiduous  industry  and 
of  the  widest  influence.  He  spent  here  thirteen  years  of  the 
very  vigor  and  lustihood  of  his  life — from  twenty-nine  to 
forty-two.  They  developed  in  him  the  fullest  and  best  pro- 
portioned manhood.  They  demonstrated  what  a  city  pastor 
can  do  who  combines  sound  judgment  with  earnestness  and 
zeal.  They  made  a  mark  on  the  whole  Church,  and  they  made 
him,  in  the  eyes  of  the  whole  Church,  a  man  of  highest  mark 
and  likelihood.      Very  few  of  our  clergy  have  ever  held  a 


SKETCHES   OF   THE   BISHOPS.  1 79 

position  so  elevated,  so  widely  regarded,  so  variously  and 
deeply  influential,  as  Dr.  Wainwright,  during  his  rectorship 
of  Grace  Church. 

He  had  collected  an  extensive  library,  admirably  chosen. 
He  found  or  made  the  leisure,  amid  his  numerous  and  ardu- 
ous duties,  to  be  much  among  his  books.  He  cultivated 
most  ardently  his  love  for  sacred  music,  which  was  carried  to 
great  perfection  by  his  choir ;  and  made  it  tell  most  bene- 
ficially throughout  the  land,  in  increased  attention  to  the  sub- 
ject, in  his  Music  of  the  Church.  His  hearth  was  the  cen- 
ter of  the  most  refined  and  generous  hospitality,  and 
strangers  of  every  clime  were  attracted  about  him  by  his  cul- 
tivated tastes,  his  wide  and  varied  information,  his  elegant 
manners,  and  his  kind  and  sympathizing  heart. 

At  the  end  of  those  thirteen  years  of  happiness  and  use- 
fulness in  the  rectory  of  Grace  Church,  a  change  passed  over 
his  life.  The  ancient  parish  of  Trinity  Church,  in  Boston, 
had  been  more  than  a  year  without  a  rector,  and  was  suffer- 
ing greatly  from  the  vacancy.  The  venerable  Bishop  of  the 
Eastern  Diocese  was  advanced  in  years,  with  gathering  in- 
firmities ;  there  were  divisions,  in  sentiment  and  action, 
among  those  of  the  same  household,  and  there  was  a  general 
state  of  unsatisfactoriness  in  the  Church  in  Massachusetts. 
Under  these  circumstances,  his  prominence  in  the  Church,  his 
eminent  success  as  a  preacher  and  as  a  pastor,  and  his  well- 
deserved  reputation  as  a  man  of  peace,  averse  to  all  extremes, 
and  the  consideration,  peculiarly  attractive  to  Boston  people, 
that  he  had  been  a  Boston  man,  directed  attention  strongly 
to  Dr.  Wainwright. 

The  urgent  call  of  the  vestry  of  Trinity  Church  was 
seconded  and  enforced  by  several  representations  from  clergy- 
men and  laymen  of  the  highest  consideration  in  the  Church. 
It  seemed  a  call.  It  was  certainly  a  sacrifice.  He  went.  He 
was  welcomed  back  to  the  haunts  of  his  youth  with  the  ut- 
most cordiality.  His  old  friends  rallied  about  him.  New 
friends  were  gathered  to  them.  The  parish  was  encouraged 
and  reinforced.  A  better  organ  was  needed,  and  he  was  sent 
to  England  to  procure  its  construction,  with  a  most  liberal  pro- 


ISO  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

vision  for  his  personal  expenses  abroad.  It  was  the  land  of 
his  birth.  It  was  the  land  of  his  heart.  Scarcely  any  one  ever 
went  abroad  with  a  better  preparation  for  the  highest  enjoy- 
ment. Scarcely  any  one  ever  more  completely  realized  his 
most  sanguine  expectations. 

Dr.  Wainwright  did  not  remain  long  in  Boston  after  his 
return  from  Europe.  After  his  removal  to  Boston  some 
changes  had  been  introduced  into  the  parochial  arrangements  of 
Trinity  Church,  New  York,  by  which  a  more  positive  position 
and  definite  responsibility  were  secured  to  the  assistant  min- 
isters and  a  pastoral  care  in  one  or  other  of  the  chapels  as- 
signed to  each  of  them. 

The  yearning  for  him,  which  was  still  alive  and  active  in 
his  old  parishioners  and  friends,  led  to  his  being  invited  as  an 
assistant  minister  of  Trinity  Church,  a  little  more  than  two 
years  after  he  had  gone  to  Boston.  He  declined  the  invita- 
tion. But  when,  a  year  later,  in  January,  1838,  after  fuller 
conviction  that  the  general  aim  of  his  removal  to  Massachu- 
setts, in  the  pacific  influence  of  his  character  upon  the  unset- 
tled condition  of  affairs,  would  not  be  realized,  the  invitation 
was  renewed,  it  was  not  at  all  to  be  wondered  at  that  it  was 
accepted. 

And  great  as  were  the  regret  and  disappointment  of  his 
Boston  parishioners  and  friends  at  losing  him  from  among 
them,  they  acquiesced  in  the  decision  as  justified  by  high 
considerations  of  duty  to  the  Church,  with  the  same  nobility 
of  spirit  as  had  been  manifested  in  Grace  Church  four  years 
before.  In  returning  to  New  York,  to  the  parish  which  had 
brought  him  from  his  first  care  eighteen  years  before,  the  con- 
gregation of  St.  John's  Chapel  were  more  especially  assigned 
to  him,  with  general  duty  in  Trinity  Church  and  both  the 
chapels.  In  this  connection  he  continued  seventeen  years, 
laboring  most  faithfully,  most  assiduously,  most  successfully, 
for  the  souls  committed  to  his  care  ;  and  foremost  in  every 
good  word  and  work,  whether  in  his  parochial  relations,  and 
the  promotion  of  learning  and  benevolence  in  the  great  city 
where  his  post  had  been  appointed,  or  in  the  wider  sphere  of 
the  diocesan  or  general  organization  of  the  Church. 


SKETCHES -OF  THE   BISHOPS.  l8l 

No  one  that  did  not  live  with  him  could  imagine  the  vari- 
ety and  extent  of  these  labors  oflove.  How  he  found  time 
for  them,  and  yet  neglected  no  immediate  pastoral  duty,  nor 
was  wanting  to  any  social  or  domestic  claim,  would  be  to  any 
other  than  an  inmate  of  his  house,  a  matter  of  just  surprise. 
It  was  by  constant,  cheerful,  systematic  industry,  on  a  high 
religious  principle.  He  was  never  in  a  hurry.  He  never 
seemed  overburdened.  But  he  rose  early.  He  laid  his  work 
out  carefully.  He  pursued  it  constantly.  His  heart  was  in 
it.  It  was  with  him,  as  it  was  with  Jacob  in  the  service  of 
his  love  for  Rachel.  In  the  midst  of  all  this  multifarious  care 
and  work,  how  pleasant  he  was,  how  playful !  Always  time 
to  be  happy  with  an  old  friend.  Always  time  to  be  social 
with  those  whose  claims  were  just  upon  his  socialness.  Al- 
ways ready  to  enter  heart  and  soul  into  anything  that  made 
for  Christian  cheerfulness  and  fellowship.  A  more  delightful 
companion  in  the  unreservedness  of  familiar  love,  I  never 
knew. 

His  literary  labors  were  very  numerous.  He  published 
many  sermons  and  addresses  by  request  of  those  at  whose 
instance  they  were  delivered.  He  edited  many  valuable 
books.  He  superintended  with  great  care  and  labor,  the 
American  edition  of  the  Illustrated  Prayer  Book,  and  he  was, 
with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Coit,  the  chief  working  member  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  the  General  Convention  to  prepare  the  standard 
edition  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 

The  year  1852  was  a  marked  era  in  Dr.  Wainwright's  hon- 
orable life.  The  venerable  Society  for  the  Propagation  of 
the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts  had  resolved  to  celebrate  their 
third  jubilee  (the  one  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary)  on  the 
fifteenth  day  of  June  in  that  year.  At  a  general  meeting  of 
the  society  on  the  twentieth  day  of  February  it  was  unani- 
mously resolved  that  "  His  Grace,  the  President,  be  requested 
to  address  a  communication  to  the  Bishops  of  the  United 
States,  inviting  them  to  delegate  two  or  more  of  their  number 
to  take  part  in  the  concluding  services  of  the  society's  third 
jubilee  year,  which  will  end  on  June  15th,  1852."  The 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  transmitted  the  resolutions  of  the 


1 82  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

society,  enforced  by  his  own  earnest  request,  to  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Wainwright,  as  Secretary  of  the  House  of  Bishops. 

At  an  informal  meeting  of  the  bishops  held  in  New  York 
on  the  twenty-ninth  day  of  April,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  McCoskry, 
Bishop  of  Michigan,  and  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  De  Lancey,  Bishop 
of  Western  New  York,  were  requested  to  be  present  and  par- 
ticipate in  the  solemn  services  proposed  to  be  held  in  West- 
minster Abbey,  and  when  resolutions  of  the  most  grateful 
love  and  cordial  sympathy  had  been  adopted  by  the  bishops 
present,  Dr.  Wainwright,  as  the  Secretary  of  the  House  of 
Bishops,  was  appointed  to  convey  them  to  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  as  president  of  the  society.  He  went.  The 
bishops  sailed  soon  after,  and  were  there  in  time  They  bore 
themselves  as  two  such  bishops  would,  well  and  worthily  of  the 
occasion.  And  none  rejoiced  so  much  as  they,  that  Dr. 
Wainwright  was  the  sharer  of  their  joy,  or  bore  such  testi- 
mony to  the  grace  and  dignity  with  which  he  did  his  part  in 
the  great  mission  of  the  daughter  to  the  Mother  Church.  On 
every  suitable  occasion  he  made  the  halls  of  England  vocal 
with  his  fervent  Christian  eloquence,  and  everywhere  the 
honor  which  his  office  claimed,  and  which  his  person  every 
way  conciliated,  was  freely  paid  to  him.  Upon  him,  as  well 
as  upon  the  two  distinguished  bishops  of  our  Church,  the 
University  of  Oxford  conferred  the  honorary  degree  of 
D.C.L. 

From  the  passage  of  the  canon  of  the  General  Convention 
of  1850,  "  of  the  election  of  a  provisional  bishop,  in  the  case  of 
a  diocese  where  the  bishop  is  suspended  without  a  precise 
limitation  of  time,"  there  were  several  unsuccessful  attempts 
to  elect  a  provisional  bishop  for  the  Diocese  of  New  York. 
On  the  first  day  of  October  of  that  same  eventful  year,  1852, 
a  very  short  time  after  his  return  from  that  most  honorable 
mission  to  our  Mother  Church  of  England,  Dr.  Wainwright 
was  chosen  to  that  office.  How  well  and  wisely  for  the 
diocese  and  for  the  whole  Church,  his  episcopate,  brief  as  it 
was,  sufficed  to  show. 

The  tenth  day  of  November,  1852,  the  day  on  which  Dr. 
Wainwright  was  consecrated,  was  a  glorious  festival.     "  Re- 


SKETCHES   OF  THE   BISHOPS.  1 83 

garded,"  the  Church  Journal  says,  "  as  the  happy  termination 
of  diocesan  contests,  which  had  lasted  with  great  acrimony 
for  years,  this  occasion  was  honored  by  the  presence  of  ten 
bishops,  and  for  the  first  time  since  the  establishment  of  the 
American  episcopate,  an  English  bishop  united  in  consecrat- 
ing an  American  prelate.  This  happy  commencement  of  re- 
union and  peace,  celebrated  as  it  was  with  uncommon 
splendor  and  the  united  devotion  of  thousands,  was  fondly 
looked  upon  as  the  inauguration  of  a  long  episcopate." 

As  no  ceremonial  could  have  been  more  magnificent,  cele- 
brated as  it  was,  in  a  company  of  worshipers  which  filled 
every  standing  spot  in  glorious  Trinity,  and  with  all  that 
music  could  impart  of  sweetness  and  solemnity,  there  were 
personal  relations  involved  in  it  of  the  most  gratifying  char- 
acter. The  consecrator  was  the  venerable  presiding  bishop 
himself,  whom  he  had  succeeded  as  an  assistant  minister  of 
Trinity  Church,  and  who  had  been  to  him,  through  all  the 
years  that  followed,  as  a  father  to  a  son. 

Of  all  the  bishops  associated  with  Bishop  Brownell  in  the 
consecration,  one  had  been  for  the  third  part  of  a  century  his 
most  immediate  friend,  and  all  the  rest,  but  one,  knit  with 
him  in  the  closest  bonds  of  intimate  affection.  That  one,  a 
bishop  of  the  Church  of  England,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Fulford, 
of  Montreal ;  glad  to  return  so  soon  the  tokens  of  that  Catho- 
lic and  Apostolic  love  of  which  Dr.  Wainwright  had  been  so 
recently  the  bearer  to  his  own  most  reverend  Metropolitan. 
It  may  be  doubted  if  "  the  laying  on  of  hands  "  was  ever  more 
emphatically  the  pouring  out  of  hearts.  How  beautiful  he 
was  as  he  knelt  in  his  meekness  to  receive  the  trust  of  an 
apostle!  With  what  a  manly  fullness,  fervor,  and  solemnity 
he  made  his  solemn  promise  of  conformity  ! 

How  his  heart  heaved  and  swelled  with  its  concluding 
words,  "So  help  me  God,  through  Jesus  Christ !"  And  what 
an  "  Amen  "  went  up  from  that  subdued  and  melted  multi- 
tude, that  God  might  grant  it  all. 

Immediately  after  his  election,  Bishop  Wainwright  entered 
fully  upon  the  duties  of  his  office.  He  knew  how  long  the 
diocese  had  been  without  the  services  of  its  diocesan.     He 


1 84  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

knew  how  critical  the  moment  was  which  introduced  a  bishop 
under  the  new  canon.  He  knew,  no  doubt,  that  some  might 
apprehend  that  he  was  not  a  working  man.  No  doubt  he  sol- 
emnly remembered  that  "  the  night  cometh,  when  no  man  can 
work." 

"  Anxious  to  serve  faithfully  that  diocese  which,  by  so 
large  a  vote,  had  called  him  to  preside  over  it,  Bishop  Wain- 
wright  refused,"  says  the  Church  Journal,  "  to  moderate  his 
episcopal  labors  by  any  consideration  for  his  own  health. 
This  enormous  diocese  is  too  heavy  a  burden  for  even  the 
most  vigorous  man,  in  the  flower  of  his  age  ;  and  the  determi- 
nation to  do,  what  no  man  of  his  years  could  reasonably  expect 
to  perform,  has  hurried  the  devoted  bishop  to  his  grave.  In 
spite  of  the  repeated  and  pressing  remonstrances  of  his 
friends  ;  in  spite  of  several  premonitory  warnings  that  he  was 
altogether  overtasking  his  strength,  the  indefatigable  prelate 
was  no  sooner  restored  from  one  attack  of  sickness  than  he 
pushed  forward  into  a  fresh  round  of  labor."  It  might  well 
be  inscribed  upon  his  monument  "the  zeal  of  Thine  house 
hath  eaten  me  up." 

He  projected  at  once  a  complete  visitation  of  the  whole 
diocese,  with  its  three  hundred  clergymen,  before  the  next 
convention,  a  period  of  eleven  months.  And  he  accom- 
plished it.  His  whole  heart  was  in  his  work.  He  had  always 
been  a  laboring  man.  He  felt  himself  more  than  ever  bound 
to  labor  now  that  he  was  to  be  an  example  to  the  pastors,  as 
well  as  to  the  flock.  He  did  not  consider  his  advanced  age  ; 
he  did  not  consider  the  difference  in  the  kind  of  work  ;  he 
did  not  consider  the  entire  change  in  his  manner  of  life;  un- 
certain hours,  irregular  meals,  unconscious  occupation,  a  con- 
stant drain  upon  his  spirits  and  his  strength.  Above  all,  he 
did  not  consider  what  even  St.  Paul  considered  the  hardest 
and  the  heaviest  of  his  burdens,  "  the  care  of  all  the  churches." 
High  and  holy  as  his  motive  was,  it  must  be  owned  that  he 
was  imprudent  in  his  zeal. 

"  He  died  on  the  Feast  of  St.  Matthew  the  Apostle, 
Thursday,  September  21,  1854,  in  the  sixty-third  year  of  his 
age." 


SKETCHES   OF   THE   BISHOPS.  1 85 

After  all,  it  was  a  beautiful  and  glorious  death.  In  the 
two  and  twenty  months  of  his  episcopate  he  had  averaged 
more  than  one  sermon  a  day.  He  had  consecrated  15 
churches;  he  had  ordained  37  deacons  and  12  priests;  he  had 
confirmed  4,127  persons.  And  all  this  was  as  nothing  to  that 
which  came  upon  him  daily,  "  the  care  of  all  the  churches." 
His  work  seemed  just  begun.  And  yet  he  had  settled  and 
harmonized  a  diocese  which  had  been  long  distracted,  and 
had  given  to  the  whole  Church,  till  every  eye  and  heart  was 
filled,  "  assurance  "  of  a  bishop.  It  was  a  beautiful  and  glori- 
ous death  to  die. 

From  the  happiest  home  ;  from  the  widest  circle  of  de- 
voted and  admiring  friends  ;  from  the  serene  and  quiet  duties 
of  the  pastoral  life,  in  which  his  heart  delighted,  among  a 
people  who  had  called  him  to  them  five  and  thirty  years  be- 
fore, he  went,  at  the  call  of  duty,  to  the  cares  and  toils  and 
trials  of  the  episcopate,  in  the  largest  and  most  laborious  of  our 
dioceses,  and  at  a  time  when  a  most  painful  providence  had 
made  its  trials  infinitely  trying  and  its  labors  immeasurably 
laborious.  But  he  went,  at  the  call  of  God  and  in  His 
strength  and  in  less  than  two  years  he  restored  the  waste 
places  of  Zion  and  set  his  vineyard  in  most  perfect  order,  and 
the  very  next  week  expected  to  rejoice  with  his  assembled 
clergy  and  laity  in  the  account  which  he  was  to  render  to 
them  with  such  joy,  as  theirs  who  bring  the  vintage  home. 
But  he  had  overtasked  his  strength. 

At  sixty,  one  with  peril  enters  on  an  untried  course  of  life. 
He  entered  upon  his  with  the  ardor  of  one  half  his  age.  He 
forsook  his  happy  home  ;  he  divorced  himself  from  his  be- 
seeching friends  ;  he  gave  his  days  to  labor  and  his  nights  to 
care.  Again  and  again  he  was  prostrated  in  his  work  ;  again 
and  again  his  friends  admonished  him  of  his  danger  ;  again 
and  again  I  implored  him  to  work  less  that  he  might  work 
longer  and  do  more.  It  was  all  in  vain.  The  vows  of  God 
were  on  him.  The  zeal  of  His  house  had  eaten  him  up.  Again 
and  again,  when  he  had  hardly  rallied  from  entire  prostration, 
he  returned  prematurely  to  the  rescue.  And,  in  the  midst  of 
the  herculean  labors  which  he  had  wrought  and  which  he  had 


1 86  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

planned,  he  entered,  on  St.  Matthew's  day,  A.D.  1854,  into 
the  only  rest  of  which  his  zealous  heart  would  hear,  and 
sweetly  sleeps  in  Jesus. 

A  gallant  and  a  glorious  death  was  his.  His  feet  on  the 
field  ;  his  face  to  the  foe  ;  his  armor  on  ;  his  spear  in  rest ; 
the  crown  of  life  falling,  'mid  fight,  upon  his  brow.  "  His 
body  is  buried  in  peace  ;  but  his  name  liveth  for  evermore." 


SKETCHES   OF   THE   BISHOPS.  187 


THE  SIXTH  BISHOP  OF  NEW  YORK. 

HORATIO  Potter,  sixth  Bishop  of  New  York,  will  leave 
to  posterity,  when  the  end  shall  have  arrived,  a  name  to  cast 
unfading  luster  on  the  annals  of  the  diocese.  It  will  be  said 
of  him,  by  those  that  come  after,  that,  as  a  theologian,  he 
combined  the  strong  conviction  and  subjective  piety  of  the 
evangelical  school  with  the  deeper  views  and  powerful  hold 
on  the  doctrinal  and  sacramental  system  of  the  Church  which 
mark  the  men  commonly  known  as  Catholics.  As  bishop  he 
was  the  peer,  the  faithful  ally,  and  the  intimate  personal  friend 
of  some  of  the  greatest  and  ablest  of  the  prelates  of  the  Church 
of  England  in  one  of  the  most  momentous  periods  of  her  his- 
tory. Wise,  prudent,  and  skillful,  he  piloted  his  own  diocese 
through  stormy  weather  and  In  dangerous  places,  and  had  the 


gratification  of  witnessing  the  founding  and  successful  devel- 
opment of  two  new  and  strong  dioceses  born  within  the  old 
domain.  Dignified  in  bearing,  courtly  in  manners,  somewhat 
austere,  as  becomes  an  overseer  of  God's  heritage;  cordial 
and  delightful  in  the  trusted  society  of  intimate  friends ;  de- 
vout and  earnest ;  a  holy  man,  full  of  prayer  and  good  works, 
he  was,  to  those  who  knew  him  best,  the  mirror  of  the  Epis- 
copal character,  and  a  shining  example  among  the  chief  pas- 
tors of  the  flock  of  Christ.  God,  in  His  wise  providence,  has 
willed  that  he  should  pass  his  last  days  in  the  enforced  seclu- 
sion of  a  sick  room  ;  and,  therefore,  in  penning  this  brief 
sketch  of  him,  we  throw  much  of  it  into  the  past  tense,  but 
the  love  and  prayers  of  the  faithful  follow  him  into  that 
sacred  retirement  and  surround  him  there,  while  for  the  future 
the  record  is  secure  of  a  true,  strong,  pure,  and  helpful  life,  of 
which  the  honor  and  fame  shall  last,  unfading,  in  the  Church. 
He  was  of  an  old  English  stock.  Robert  Potter,  first  of 
the  name  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  came  to  this  country 


188  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

from  Coventry,  and  was  settled  at  Lynn,  Mass.,  in  1630.  In 
1639,  having  been  cited  before  the  authorities  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Colony  for  religious  contumacy,  he  removed  to 
Rhode  Island,  and  was  one  of  those  who  signed  the  compact 
for  the  town  of  Portsmouth,  April  16,  1639,  when  it  was  set 
off  from  Newport.  His  name  appears  in  the  Indian  deed  of 
Shawmut,  near  Warwick,  Rhode  Island.  In  1643  he  was 
taken  to  Boston,  with  other  Warwick  men,  and  there  sen- 
tenced to  imprisonment  for  non-conformism.  Among  his 
descendants  occur  the  names  of  men  pre-eminently  distin- 
guished in  the  communities  in  which  they  lived,  amongst 
whom  may  be  mentioned  John  Potter,  Clerk  of  the  General 
Court  in  1661,  and  Stephen  Potter,  Judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Rhode  Island  in  1727.  In  1795  three  of  the  family 
— Joseph,  Sylvester,  and  Thomas — removed  to  New  York  and 
settled  in  Dutchess  County.  Joseph  Potter  married  Ann 
Knight,  by  whom  he  had  ten  children  ;  of  these,  the  ninth, 
Alonzo,  became  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  tenth  is  the 
subject  of  this  biographical  sketch. 

Horatio  Potter  was  born  in  Beekman,  Dutchess  County, 
New  York,  February  9,  1802.  He  was  sent  to  Union  Col- 
lege, where  he  graduated  in  1826.  A  letter  to  a  college 
companion,  dated  February  24,  1827,  contains  the  following 
good  advice  to  students : 

"Look  to  your  health.  There  is  something  which  to  the 
youthful  mind  looks  like  moral  sublimity  in  the  sacrifice  of 
health  and  life  at  the  very  outset  of  our  career.  But  a  heed- 
less, unnecessary  sacrifice  can  be  neither  pleasing  to  God  nor 
beneficial  to  man.  When  studying  hard,  you  should  devote 
at  least  two  hours  a  day  to  vigorous  exercise.  Without  this 
you  can  have  neither  energy  of  mind  nor  strength  of  body. 
Beware,  too,  of  reading  hastily.  Curiosity,  the  love  of  novelty, 
and  the  pride  we  take  in  having  read  a  great  many  books,  all 
conspire  to  hurry  us  on  from  volume  to  volume  without  giving 
us  time  to  become  masters  of  them.  To  an  ardent,  youthful 
mind,  advancing  is  delightful,  reviewing  irksome.  As  you 
march  on,  then,  be  careful  to  leave  no  enemy  unconquered." 


SKETCHES   OF   THE   BISHOPS.  189 

He  was  ordained  deacon  in  July,  1827,  and  priest  the  fol- 
lowing year.  He  began  his  ministry  in  Saco,  Maine,  as 
appears,  rather  against  his  will,  for  he  writes  :  "  I  did  hope  to 
enjoy,  for  a  year  or  two,  full  leisure  to  prosecute  my  educa- 
tion." He  shrank  from  the  difficulties  and  responsibilities  of 
the  cure  of  souls.  "The  parochial  duties  are  most  formida- 
ble ;"  but  he  adds,  by  way  of  consolation  :  "  I  have  heard  of 
men  who  have  done  much  for  their  minds  at  the  same  time 
that  they  were  extensively  useful  in  the  active  duties  of  their 
profession.  By  the  blessing  of  God,  I  will  imitate  their  ex- 
ample.    I  am  ready  to  make  the  effort." 

In  the  year  1828  he  became  Professor  of  Mathematics  and 
Natural  Philosophy  in  Washington  (now  Trinity)  College, 
Hartford,  Connecticut.  He  took  an  active  part  in  plans  for 
the  enlargement  of  the  college  and  the  erection  of  new  build- 
ings, as  appears  from  his  correspondence  with  his  brother,  the 
Rev.  Alonzo  Potter,  at  that  time  rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church, 
Boston. 

In  1833  he  became  rector  of  St.  Peter's  Church,  in  the  city 
of  Albany,  and  held  that  position  until  his  election  to  the 
episcopate  in  1854.  Those  twenty-one  years  were  a  term  of 
steady  and  persevering  labor,  with  marked  success.  The 
parish,  one  of  the  oldest  in  the  State,  was  of  especial  dignity 
and  importance,  not  only  from  its  history,  but  also  from  its 
situation  in  the  capital  of  the  State,  and  from  the  fact  that 
many  of  the  most  prominent  personages  in  the  political  history 
of  New  York  were,  from  time  to  time,  connected  with  it.  Dr. 
Potter  acquired  an  enviable  distinction  there  as  a  devoted  pas- 
tor, an  able  preacher,  and  a  man  who  never  meddled  with  other 
people's  affairs,  but  did  his  work  quietly,  "  without  partiality, 
without  hypocrisy,"  and  without  aim  at  popularity  or  effect. 
In  the  year  1835  he  went  abroad,  and  traveled  in  England  and 
on  the  Continent.  He  carried  with  him  letters  to  Simeon, 
Keble,  Chalmers,  Bishop  Skinner,  of  the  Scottish  Episcopal 
Church,  and  other  eminent  personages  of  the  day.  He  was 
profoundly  impressed  by  the  aspect  of  the  great  English  uni- 
versities. 

"  My  visit  to  the  Louvre  and  Tuileries  and  Versailles  had 


190  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

almost  moved  me  to  pronounce  France  superior  to  England 
in  classical  taste;  but  Cambridge  and  Oxford  are  altogether 
unequaled  by  anything  that  I  have  seen,  if  I  am  to  judge  by 
the  manner  in  which  they  excited  my  own  mind  under  the 
most  unfavorable  circumstances.  As  for  society,  I  saw  none 
at  either  place.  The  university  was  in  vacation,  the  weather 
was  stormy,  and  I  had  neither  time  nor  inclination  for  cere- 
monious visits." 

Dr.  Potter's  health  was  very  delicate  during  his  early  years  ; 
it  continued  so  while  he  was  rector  of  St.  Peter's.  Severe 
domestic  affliction  in  the  loss  of  children  added  weight  to  the 
burden  of  life  at  that  time.  In  1845  he  went  abroad  again  for 
rest  and  recovery.  The  times  were  full  of  excitement  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic.  It  was  the  era  of  the  development  of 
the  Oxford  movement  in  England,  a  movement  strongly  felt 
on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  The  year  1845  was  marked  by 
the  defection  of  John  Henry  Newman,  an  event  which  shook 
the  souls  of  many  English  Churchmen  ;  in  that  same  year  oc- 
curred the  suspension  of  Bishop  Onderdonk  from  office,  an 
event  attended  by  great  agitation  and  embittered  controver- 
sies in  the  Diocese  of  New  York.  Allusion  to  the  trying 
occurrences  of  the  day  appear  in  a  letter  now  in  my  posses- 
sion, written  at  the  Brunswick  Hotel,  Hanover  Square,  Lon- 
don, September  12,  1845,  from  which  I  shall  venture  to  make 
the  following  extracts,  taking  on  myself  the  responsibility  of 
doing  so.  It  is  well-nigh  on  to  half  a  century  since  the  time 
of  writing. 

"  The  present  crisis  is  naturally  one  of  so  much  excitement 
to  you  that  you  stand  in  no  need  of  foreign  stimulants.  Since 
I  wrote  to  you  we  have  been  staying  several  days  with  Mr. 
Keble,  and  then  with  Mr.  Isaac  Williams,  author  of  poems, 
and  works  on  the  gospels.  Both  these  are  men  of  singular 
modesty,  purity,  and  devotion.  They  live  among  the  poor, 
though  themselves  worthy  to  be  ranked  among  the  most  gifted 
of  English  minds.  Were  I  to  speak  of  Moberly,  and  Bishop 
Skinner,  and  Bowden,  and  Hook,  and  Dodsworth,  and  the 
other  men  with  whom  I  have  been  living,  you  would  be  apt 
to  say,  '  Well,  birds  of  a  feather  flock  together  !     He  is  taking 


SKETCHES  OF   THE   BISHOPS.  191 

the  right  way  to  have  his  prepossessions  confirmed.'  To  all 
which  I  reply,  that  in  seeking  intercourse  chiefly  with  this 
class  of  theologians  I  have  been  governed  by  three  reasons. 
First,  I  know  well  the  Evangelicans  already,  their  spirit  and 
their  intentions.  I  also  know  the  old  High  Church  party,  the 
high  and  dry.  But  I  was  not  quite  certain  about  what  may 
be  called  the  Catholic  men  ;  many  things  were  imputed  to 
them,  they  belonged  to  a  movement,  I  wished  to  know 
whether  I  had  judged  them  rightly,  and  what  we  and  the 
Church  had  to  expect  from  them.  Second,  I  came  away  from 
home  exhausted  and  broken  ;  and  I  had  no  idea  of  spending 
the  season  of  recreation  among  a  set  of  people  with  whom  I 
could  not  sympathize,  who  would  be  constantly  dealing  in 
anathemas  which  I  would  think  extravagant,  and  to  which  I 
could  say  nothing.  Such  men  as  Keble  and  Williams  and 
Moberly,  and  the  Primus  of  the  Scotch  Church  (and  a  noble 
Primus  he  is  !)  I  find  I  understand  at  once,  and  we  get  on 
comfortably  together.  How  kind  they  have  all  been  to  me  ! 
and  what  lessons  in  holiness  they  have  unconsciously  taught 
me  !  O,  how  little  the  men  who  revile  them  understand  them, 
or  understand  the  theological  age  upon  which  they  are  fallen  ! 
Even  Mr.  N.,  who  very  probably  may  take  a  grievous  step*  (I 
say  this  in  confidence),  how  little  will  his  feelings  and  charac- 
ter be  appreciated  by  his  revilers  in  America  !  Dr.  Moberly's 
account  of  the  way  in  which  the  young  men  at  Oxford  con- 
fessed that  they  had  found  themselves  silently  put  away  by 
him  and  sent  to  Dr.  P.  (who  is  standing  fast)  brought  the 
tears  into  my  eyes.  Even  those  who  dissent  from  him  and 
will  not  go  with  him  regard  him  with  inexpressible  reverence 
and  affection.  ...  I  had  this  A.  M.  a  very  kind  note 
from  Dr.  Pusey,  inviting  us  to  his  house  in  Oxford  ;  we  shall 
go  to-morrow,  on  our  way  to  Liverpool,  and  this  will  com- 
plete our  visits.  .  .  .  As  to  Church  matters  at  home  I  am 
tranquil,  leaving  all  to  Him  who  can  make  the  folly  of  men 
to  praise  Him.  Each  party,  I  think,  would  soon  ruin  itself, 
but  for  the  violence  and  blunders  of  the  opposite. 

'■'•Christ  Church,  Oxford,  September  \^th.     We  are  staying 

*  This  letter  was  written  about  a  month  before  Newman's  secession. 


192  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

with  Dr.  P.     Yesterday  we  had  the  Communion  with  him  in 

the    cathedral.     ,  and   I,  and  pray  with  him   in    his 

study  five  or  six  times  a  day.  Such  meekness  and  love,  such 
a  contrite  and  broken  spirit,  it  has  not  before  been  my  for- 
tune to  meet.     May  God  strengthen  and  sustain  him  !" 

The  name  of  Dr.  Potter  had  been  mentioned  several 
times,  in  connection  with  vacancies  in  the  episcopate,  long  be- 
fore his  election  to  that  office  in  his  own  diocese.  On  these 
occasions  he  persistently  adhered  to  the  line  which  he  had 
adopted  of  discouraging  such  movements  and  of  declaring  his 
wish  and  preference  to  remain  a  simple  parish  priest,  united 
with  his  family,  and  at  peace  in  his  home.  In  Pennsylvania 
and  in  Connecticut  strong  influences  might  have  been  brought 
to  bear  in  his  behalf,  but  for  his  entire  indifference  and  posi- 
tive refusal  to  give  any  encouragement ;  and,  as  he  expresses 
it  in  one  of  his  letters,  "  to  trouble  his  head  about  it!'  But  in 
the  year  1854,  the  office  which  he  had  conscientiously  refused 
to  seek  at  length  sought  him  ;  and  by  the  concurrent  vote  of 
the  clergy  and  laity,  assembled  in  Diocesan  Convention,  in 
September,  he  was  elected  provisional  Bishop  of  New  York, 
succeeding  the  honored  and  lamented  Wainwright,  whose 
brief  but  admirable  episcopate  of  less  than  two  years  had  been 
cut  suddenly  short  by  death.  He  was  consecrated  November 
22d,  in  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  T.  C. 
Brownell,  Bishop  of  Connecticut,  assisted  by  Bishops  Fulford, 
of  Montreal ;  Whittingham,  of  Maryland  ;  Hopkins,  of  Ver- 
mont;  Doane,  of  New  Jersey;  McCoskrey,  of  Michigan,  and 
Alonzo  Potter,  of  Pennsylvania.  The  day  was  the  guarantee 
of  the  coming  era  of  rest,  recovery,  and  peace,  of  great  devel- 
opment, and  of  abounding  works  of  grace  to  the  glory  of  God 
and  the  extension  of  the  Church. 

Dr.  Potter,  elected  provisional  bishop,  became  bishop  on 
the  death  of  Bishop  Onderdonk  in  1861.  Among  the  notable 
events  of  his  administration  was  the  subdivision  of  the  diocese 
in  1868,  by  which  the  new  Dioceses  of  Long  Island,  Albany, 
and  Central  New  York  came  into  existence.  His  influence, 
strongly  felt  at   home  in  the  House  of  Bishops,  of  which  he 


SKETCHES   OF   THE   BISHOPS.  I93 

was  a  distinguished  member,  was  exerted  on  a  much  wider 
scale,  through  his  active  participation  in  the  Lambeth  Con- 
ferences, held  in  September,  1867,  and  in  July,  1878.  He  was 
present,  on  both  occasions,  in  those  august  assemblages  of  the 
Fathers  of  the  Anglican  Communion,  ably  representing  the 
Diocese  of  New  York  in  councils  recalling  those  of  the  long 
ago  ;  councils  representing  one  great  division — alas  !  that  there 
are  divisions — of  the  Holy  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church.  The 
friendships  of  earlier  days  were  continued  and  strengthened 
at  these  periods  ;  new  ones  were  formed,  as  the  letters  show. 
Among  his  correspondents  were  Bishop  Wilberforce,  once  of 
Oxford  and  later  of  Winchester ;  Bishop  Selwyn,  of  Lich- 
field; Bishop  Jackson,  of  London  ;  Bishop  Moberly  and  his 
predecessor,  Bishop  Hamilton  ;  Bishop  Medley,  of  Frederic- 
ton  ;  Lord  Stanhope,  Archdeacon  Sinclair,  Bishop  Jacobson, 
of  Chester  ;  the  Rt.  Hon.  Sir  J.  T.  Coleridge,  and  many  others 
of  like  fame  and  worth. 

This  centennial  history  contains  the  evidence  of  the  great 
growth  of  the  diocese  during  the  administration  of  its  now 
venerable  diocesan,  and  gives  the  particulars  necessary  in 
order  to  compute  the  advance  in  every  part  of  the  field.  In 
all  these  things  Bishop  Potter  took  the  initiative,  as  his  ad- 
dresses to  his  convention  prove.  These  were  not  "  charges  " 
in  the  strict  sense  of  that  word,  but  rather  reviews  of  Church 
work  during  each  preceding  year,  and  most  interesting  ac- 
counts, in  almost  a  narrative  form,  of  the  state  of  the  diocese 
and  the  labors  of  its  devoted  clergy.  It  is  needless  to  say  that 
this  annual  retrospect  proved  a  powerful  stimulus  to  increased 
effort,  and  gave  a  practical  turn  to  the  work  of  the  entire, 
body.  During  his  episcopate  progress  has  been  made  in  every 
desirable  direction,  but  nowhere  more  distinctly  than  in  efforts 
to  reach  the  laboring  classes  and  the  poor,  to  popularize  the 
Church,  to  draw  the  plainer  sort  of  people  into  her  fold,  and 
to  push  on  home  missions  in  the  city  and  in  the  rural  districts. 
The  day  is  now  so  far  distant  as  to  be  hardly  remembered 
when  some  were  wont  to  cast  a  slur  on  the  Church  as  that  of 
the  wealthy  and  fashionable;  it  is  now  one  of  her  most 
marked  signs,  that  she  careth  for  the  souls  of  the  poor,  and 
13 


194  CENTENNIAL  CHURCH   HISTORY. 

that  they  are  precious  in  her  sight.  The  largest  and  wealthi- 
est parishes  in  the  city  of  New  York  are  so  many  centers  of 
wise,  well-directed,  and  successful  action  looking  to  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  lower  classes,  the  relief  of  the  suffering,  and  the 
preaching  Christ  to  the  poor.  It  is  not  going  too  far  to  say 
that  this  marked  characteristic  of  the  work  of  the  Church  in 
this  city  is,  under  God,  the  result  of  the  steady,  persistent, 
persuasive,  and  unwearying  presentation  of  these  subjects  to 
his  convention,  by  the  bishop,  in  those  notable  addresses  to 
which  I  have  referred. 

During  the  episcopate  of  Bishop  Horatio  Potter  ecclesias- 
tical controversy  has  been  all  but  unknown  among  us.  The 
spirit  of  mischief,  though  threatening  from  time  to  time,  has 
never  succeeded  in  getting  head.  Questions  involving  obedi- 
ence to  the  law  of  the  Church,  and  calling  for  discipline,  have 
from  time  to  time  occurred  ;  in  such  cases  the  bishop  has  met 
them  with  decision  and  sustained  the  law.  But  his  calmness, 
his  sagacity,  his  knowledge  of  human  nature,  and  his  just  re- 
spect for  the  rights  of  all,  have  enabled  him  to  maintain, 
within  his  border,  an  envied  peace.  Storms  have  gathered, 
but  they  have  quietly  rolled  by ;  enemies  have  predicted  ap- 
proaching upheavals  and  convulsions,  but  the  prophecies  have 
failed,  till  men  have  grown  tired  of  repeating  them. 

The  scene  which  occurred  at  the  General  Convention  in 
1865,  in  connection  with  the  reunion  of  the  dioceses  which 
had  been  temporarily  separated  from  each  other  during  the 
terrible  civil  war,  must  be  held  in  perpetual  remembrance  as 
one  of  the  most  striking  episodes  in  the  life  of  our  great- 
hearted bishop.  It  has  been  described  by  more  than  one  eye- 
witness. I  take  the  following  graphic  and  eloquent  account 
from  Dr.  Fulton's  monograph  in  Bishop  Perry's  History  of 
the  American  Episcopal  Church  (vol.  ii.,  pp.  589-90). 

There  was  intense  desire  on  both  sides  to  come  together 
again,  to  forget  the  past,  to  be  knit  once  more  as  of  old,  heart 
to  heart,  and  hand  to  hand  ;  yet  no  one  felt  quite  sure  how 
the  reunion  was  to  be  brought  about.  It  seems  that  the 
Bishops  of  North  Carolina  and  Arkansas  had  determined  to 
go  to  Philadelphia,  and  be  present  at  the  general  convention, 


SKETCHES   OF   THE   BISHOPS.  195 

not  with  the  thought  of  taking  their  seats  there,  much  less 
of  claiming  them,  but  to  see  what  God  in  His  Providence 
might  have  in  store,  and  to  consult,  if  opportunity  might  be 
found,  on  the  general  interests  of  the  Church  and  the  means 
of  effecting  a  reunion.  What  followed  is  thus  described  by 
Dr.  Fulton  : 

"  At  the  opening  services  of  the  General  Convention  of 
1865,  the  two  Southern  bishops  modestly  took  seats  with  the 
congregation  in  the  nave  of  the  Church,  and  a  thrill  of  deep 
emotion  passed  through  the  vast  assembly  when  their  pres- 
ence was  observed,  and  it  was  whispered  that  the  South  was 
coming  back.  Messengers  were  sent  to  conduct  them  to  seats 
among  the  other  bishops  in  the  chancel,  a  courtesy  of  which 
they  were  fully  sensible,  but  which  they  felt  it  to  be  proper 
to  decline.  After  the  service  the  Bishops  of  New  York  and 
Maryland  went  with  others  to  greet  them,  and  with  friendly 
violence  drew  them  toward  the  House  of  Bishops.  It  was 
then,  when  they  hesitated  to  enter  that  house  until  they 
should  know  on  what  terms  and  with  what  understanding 
they  were  to  be  received,  that  Bishop  Potter  addressed  to 
them  the  memorable  words  :  '  Trust  all  to  the  love  and  honor 
of  your  brethren!'  They  could  ask,  and  they  desired  no 
other  assurance.  They  knew  the  men  with  whom  they  had 
to  deal.  They  entered  without  further  hesitation,  and  the 
House  of  Bishops  nobly  redeemed  the  noble  pledge  made  by 
the  Bishop  of  New  York." 

A  few  words  may  be  considered  in  order,  by  way  of  de- 
scription of  the  celebration  of  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of 
Bishop  Potter's  consecration.  The  day  was  Saturday,  Novem- 
ber 22,  1879.*     In  the  morning  at  eleven  o'clock  divine  ser- 

*  Under  the  title  of  "A  Blameless  Bishop,"  the  following  editorial  appeared  in 
the  New  York  Tribune,  on  the  morning  of  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  Horatio 
Potter's  consecration  : 

"The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of  this  diocese  will  this  day  mark  in  a 
proper  and  pious  manner  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  consecration  of  its 
present  excellent  head,  and  on  Tuesday  next  there  will  be  further  observances. 
The  whole  community,  without  religious  distinction,  will  be  interested  in  this 
recognition  of  work  well  done  under  circumstances  of  peculiar  delicacy  and  diffi- 


I96  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

vice  was  celebrated  in  Trinity  Church.  The  Bishops  of  Long 
Island,  Western  New  York,  and  Albany  were  present,  and  an 
immense  congregation  filled  the  Church.  After  the  Holy 
Gospel  had  been  read  and  the  Nicene  Creed  sung,  an  address 

culty.  Bishop  Potter  has  been  temperate  when  rashness  would  have  been  easy, 
and  conciliatory  when  he  might  have  been  offensive.  Though  sometimes  sorely 
tried,  either  by  those  of  his  clergy  who  went  too  far,  or  by  those  who  did  not  go 
far  enough  in  their  ideas  of  priestly  duty,  he  has  been  sparing  and  tenderly  pater- 
nal in  his  rebukes.  Patient  under  occasional  provocation,  he  has  steered  his  way 
between  Tractarian  and  Tepidarean,  without  scandalous  collision. 

"  Far  be  it  from  us  to  intimate  that  Bishop  Potter  has  been,  in  any  offensive 
sense  of  the  word,  a  trimmer.  The  most  minute  inspection  of  his  record  will  dis- 
cover no  great  principle  neglected,  no  true  position  abandoned,  no  rule  of  the 
Church  conveniently  disregarded.  At  the  same  time  he  has  not  been  a  fretful 
disciplinarian,  scolding  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  until  the  going  down  of  the 
same  ;  infusing  all  the  affairs  of  the  diocese  with  a  polemic  spirit  ;  eagerly  hunting 
for  eccentricities  or  irregularites  of  ritual  ;  putting  himself  perpetually  upon  his 
Episcopal  dignity.  He  has  not  acted  as  if  a  true  soldier  of  the  Cross  must  be,  like 
some  military  martinet,  a  monomaniac  upon  the  subject  of  pipe-clay  and  buttons, 
forever  brandishing  his  crook,  as  if  it  were  a  drill-sergeant's  baton,  at  the  high 
who  were  too  high,  at  the  broad  who  were  too  broad,  and  at  the  low  who  would 
not  come  up  an  inch  higher,  and  who  were  by  no  means  averse  to  a  little  com- 
fortable martyrdom.  If  he  had  pleased  he  might  have  made  the  history  of  his 
administration  one  long  series  of  Celebrated  Cases  of  the  ecclesiastical  sort.  He 
might  have  resolutely  refused  to  set  foot  in  certain  sacred  edifices  until  there  had 
been  a  complete  rearrangement  of  their  altars.  He  might  have  absented  himself 
until  all  the  candles  had  been  extinguished,  the  crucifixes  taken  down,  and  the 
vestments  reduced  to  a  plain  uniformity  of  white  and  black.  He  might  have  de- 
nounced an  intonation  of  the  service,  the  employment  of  incense,  and  the  frequent 
use  of  the  sign  of  the  Cross.  Indeed,  he  might  have  been  so  afraid  of  Rome,  and 
so  sharp  in  the  expression  of  his  fear,  as  to  send  more  than  one  of  his  churches, 
rector,  wardens,  and  all,  in  that  direction.  On  the  other  hand,  he  might  have 
made  matters  exceedingly  unpleasant  for  such  of  his  clergy  and  of  their  congrega- 
tions as  care  for  none  of  these  things  ;  for  those  who  minister  wherever  they  can 
find  a  chance — in  Methodist  chapels  or  in  Baptist  meeting-houses — and  who  are 
as  ostentatiously  low  as  others  are  ostentatiously  high.  Fortunately  he  has  been 
so  uniformly  amiable,  and  has  brought  to  the  discharge  of  his  duties  such  uncom- 
mon common  sense,  that  at  the  end  of  twenty-five  years  remarkable  for  new  views 
and  much  religious  speculation  he  does  not  stand  responsible  for  a  single  schism, 
and  has  had  hardly  one  important  desertion.  If  there  are  those  who  think  that 
this  has  been  an  easy  thing  to  do,  it  is  because  they  know  nothing  about  the 
matter. 

"  It  is  for  his  own  people  to  extend  to  Bishop  Potter  their  particular  congratula- 
tions ;  but  all  who  desire  decency  and  order,  who  are  scandalized  by  the  spectacle 
of  church  quarrels,  who  love  to  see  men  consistent  in  creed  and  conduct,  and  who 


SKETCHES   OF  THE   BISHOPS.  I97 

was  presented  to  the  bishop  by  a  deputation  representing  the 
clergy  and  laity  of  his  diocese,  to  whom  he  made  a  reply.  On 
Tuesday,  the  25th,  a  reception  was  given  to  the  venerable 
diocesan  in  the  Academy  of  Music.  On  that  most  interesting 
evening  the  house  was  crowded  to  its  utmost  capacity  by  an 
audience  among  the  most  remarkable  which  ever  assembled 
in  this  city.  The  reception  committee  consisted  of  the  Rev. 
George  D.  Wildes,  D.D.,  and  Messrs.  Woodbury  G.  Langdon, 
Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  William  Waldorf  Astor,  George  Macul- 
loch  Miller,  William  W.  Wright,  De  Lancey  Kane  and 
Elbridge  T.  Gerry.  Music  was  performed  by  a  large  orchestra 
and  by  the  choirs  of  Trinity  Church,  Grace  Church,  and  St. 
Thomas's  Church.     The  addresses  were  as  follows : 

1.  A  congratulatory  address  from  the  President  and  Cor- 
poration of  Union  College,  Schenectady. 

2.  An  address  from  St.  Peter's  parish,  Albany,  of  which 
the  bishop  had  been  so  long  rector. 

3.  An  address  from  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  Diocese 
of  Albany. 

4.  A  congratulatory  address  by  the  Hon.  William  M. 
Evarts. 

5.  An  address  by  the  Hon.  John  Jay,  who  at  the  same 
time  presented  the  bishop  with  a  very  beautiful  and  elaborate 
piece  of  silver,  the  description  of  which,  in  its  design,  its  sym- 
bolism, and  curious  and  exquisitely  elaborate  workmanship, 
would  occupy  much  more  space  than  the  writer  has  at  his 
disposal. 

The  venerable  bishop,  at  the  conclusion  of  these  addresses, 
which  were  varied  by  appropriate  selections  of  sacred  music, 
made  his  response  ;  and  as  he  advanced  to  do  so,  the  immense 
audience  rose,  and  remained  standing  while  he  spoke  to  them. 

think  peacemakers  to  be  indeed  blessed,  will  also  remember  in  a  kindly  spirit  this 
amiable  prelate.  We  will  not  say  that  after  him  will  come  the  deluge,  but 
when  at  last  he  is  called  to  his  great  reward — distant  be  the  day  ! — we  do  think 
that  his  place  will  be  a  hard  one  to  refill.  He  will,  however,  leave  the  legacy  of 
his  example.  He  has  shown  that  to  patience,  to  wisdom  and  to  Christian  love 
nothing  is  impossible.  He  has  made  the  way  of  his  successor  easy,  if  only  that 
successor  shall  find  grace  to  follow  it." — Editor. 


I98  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

A  sight  more  impressive  in  its  way  has  probably  never  been 
seen  ;  it  was  rendered  the  more  affecting  by  the  reflection 
that  these  were,  for  the  most  part,  his  own  children  in  the 
faith,  communicants  of  the  various  parishes,  great  numbers 
of  them  persons  on  whose  heads  his  hands  had  been  laid  in 
confirmation,  men  and  women  who  stood  thus  reverently  be- 
fore him  as  their  Father  in  God,  to  hear  his  words  of  affec- 
tionate greeting  and  to  receive  his  pastoral  benediction.  The 
sight  can  never  be  forgotten  by  those  who  had  the  good  for- 
tune to  be  present. 

The  bishop's  last  public  service  was  held  in  the  Church  of 
the  Incarnation  in  the  evening  of  Ascension  Day,  May  3, 
1883.  It  was  at  the  end  of  a  long  and  very  fatiguing  Visita- 
tion. On  the  Sunday  preceding  lie  had  held  three  confirma- 
tions, though  suffering  from  cold.  An  attack  of  pneumonia 
followed  after  that  final  service ;  it  left,  him  in  a  state  of 
prostration  from  which  he  never  rallied.  On  the  12th  of  Sep- 
tember following,  he  addressed  a  communication  to  the 
Standing  Committee,  informing  them  that  it  was  his  own 
belief,  and  the  opinion  of  his  physician  that,  even  if  his  life 
should  be  considerably  prolonged,  he  should  never  have  the 
physical  strength  necessary  to  endure  the  fatigues  and  expos- 
ure incident  to  the  active  duties  of  the  Episcopal  office,  and 
announcing  his  complete  withdrawal  from  the  administration 
of  the  diocese. 

Since  that  time,  the  aged  servant  of  God  has  remained 
quietly  in  his  Heavenly  Father's  hands,  resigned,  patient, 
waiting  for  the  hour  of  release,  the  time  of  entrance  into  his 
reward.     "  Salutare  TUUM  expectabo,  Domine." 


SKETCHES   OF   THE   BISHOPS.  I99 

THE  ASSISTANT  BISHOP  OF  NEW  YORK. 

HENRY  Codman  Potter,  the  Assistant  Bishop  of  the 
Diocese  of  New  York,  was  born  in  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  May 
25,  1835.  He  is  a  son  of  the  late  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  a  grandson  of  Dr.  Nott,  President  of  Union  College. 
His  education  was  obtained  chiefly  at  the  Episcopal  Academy, 
Philadelphia,  and  he  was  for  a  brief  time  engaged  in  mercan- 
tile life.  His  classical  and  other  studies  for  the  ministry  were 
under  the  immediate  direction  of  his  father  and  Prof.  G.  E. 
Hare,  D.D.  Entering  the  Theological  Seminary  of  Virginia, 
he  was  graduated  from  that  institution  in  1857,  and  during 
the  same  year  he  married.  He  received  deacon's  orders 
at  his  father's  hands  in  St.  Luke's  Church,  Philadelphia,  May 
25>  1857,  and  was  ordained  in  Trinity  Church,  Pittsburg, 
October  15,  1858,  by  Dr.  Bowman,  Assistant  Bishop  of  Penn- 
sylvania.    His  first  pastoral  work  was  as  the  rector  of  Christ 


Church,  Greenburg,  Pa.,  and  in  May,  1859,  ne  was  called 
to  St.  John's  Church,  Troy,  N.  Y.  In  1862,  he  was  elected 
rector  of  Christ  Church,  Cincinnati;  in  1863,  chosen  Presi- 
dent of  Kenyon  College,  Ohio,  and  in  the  same  year  he  was 
called  to  St.  Paul's  Church,  Albany,  N.  Y., — all  of  which 
he  declined.  But,  after  seven  years'  service  in  Troy,  he 
accepted,  in  1866,  the  position  of  assistant  minister  of  Trinity 
Church,  Boston.  Two  years  later  he  became  rector  of  Grace 
Church,  New  York,  which  office  he  filled  with  singular  faith- 
fulness and  success  for  fifteen  years.  In  1875,  he  was  elected 
Bishop  of  Iowa,  but  declined.  He  received  the  degree  of 
D.D.  from  Trinity  College  and  LL.D.  from  Union  College. 
He  was  secretary  of  the  House  of  Bishops  from  1865  to  1883, 
and  also  for  many  years  was  one  of  the  managers  of  the 


200  CENTENNIAL  CHURCH   HISTORY. 

Board  of  Missions.  Dr.  Potter's  published  works  include 
Sisterhoods  and  Deaconesses  at  Home  and  Abroad,  1872  ;  The 
Gates  of  the  East — A  Winter  in  Egypt  and  Syria,  1 876  ;  and 
Sermons  of  the  City,  1880. 

In  1883,  Bishop  Horatio  Potter  having  asked  for  an  as- 
sistant, the  convention,  which  met  in  the  autumn  of  that 
year,  acceded  to  his  plea  of  advancing  age  and  increasing 
infirmities,  and  on  September  27th  unanimously  elected 
Dr.  Henry  C.  Potter,  to  the  office  of  Assistant  Bishop 
of  New  York.  He  was  consecrated  in  Grace  Church,  on 
Broadway,  October  20,  1883,  by  Bishops  Smith  of  Kentucky, 
Williams  of  Connecticut,  Clark  of  Rhode  Island,  Whipple  of 
Minnesota,  Stevens  of  Pennsylvania,  Littlejohn  of  Long 
Island,  and  Huntington  of  Central  New  York.  Other  bishops 
who  were  present  and  assisted  in  the  service  were  Lay  of 
Easton,  and  Howe  of  Central  Pennsylvania,  who  acted  as  the 
presenters.  Bishop  Williams  was  the  preacher.  The  occa- 
sion was  otherwise  memorable  as  being  the  last  consecration 
performed  by  the  venerable  presiding  bishop,  Benjamin  Bos- 
worth  Smith,  then  lacking  but  a  few  months  of  four-score- 
and-ten.  Forty-three  bishops  were  present,  as  the  General 
Convention  was  then  in  session  in  Philadelphia.  More  than 
three  hundred  of  the  clergy  were  also  present,  together  with 
all  the  students  of  the  General  Theological  Seminary,  and  a 
large  congregation,  including  many  prominent  laymen  from 
all  portions  of  the  diocese.  Many  of  these  paid  their  personal 
respects  to  the  new  bishop  at  the  reception  extended  to  him 
in  the  evening  by  the  rector  of  Trinity  Church  at  his  resi- 
dence, No.  27  West  Twenty-fifth  Street.  By  personal  in- 
struments, soon  after  executed,  the  bishop  resigned  the  entire 
charge  and  responsibility  of  the  work  of  the  diocese  into  the 
new  bishop's  hands. 


<^^L>^^^^£^^^ 


PARISH    HISTORIES. 


i-jyoraOpKi.x  d^®@=-o®3®« 


PARISH     HISTORIES. 


An  asterisk  (*)  added  to  the  name  of  a  parish  indicates  that  no  report  was 
rendered  although  repeatedly  requested  by  the  Committee. — Editor. 

TRINITY  PARISH,  NEW  YORK, 

Was  organized  in  1697.  The  first  church  was  built  in  1696, 
the  second  in  1788,  and  the  present  edifice  was  begun  in  1839, 
and  completed  in  1846. 

The  rectors  of  the  parish  have  been  : 
William  Vesey,  1697-1746.  Instituted  as  rector,  February 

6,    1697.      Died,    July    11, 
1746. 
Henry  Barclay,  1746-1764.  Date  of  certificate  of  induc- 

tion,    October     22,     1746. 
Died,  October  28,  1764. 
Samuel  Auchmuty,  1765-1777.     Date  of  letters  of  institution, 

September  1,  1764.     Died, 
March  4,  1777. 
Date  of  letters  of  institution, 
March  20,  1777.  Resigned, 
November  1,  1783. 
Elected,   November   1,   1783. 

Did  not  enter. 
Date  of  induction,  April  22, 
17S4.  Resigned,  December 
22,  1800. 
Elected  and  inducted, Decem- 
ber 22,  1800.    Died,  Febru- 
ary 27,  1816. 
Elected  and  inducted,  March 
11,1816.    Died,  September 
12,  1830. 
Elected    and    inducted,   Oc- 
tober 11,  1830.     Died,  No- 
vember 7,  1862. 

Elected,    November    10,    in- 
ducted, November  1 1 ,  1 862. 


Charles  Inglis,  1777-1783. 

Benjamin  Moore,  1783. 
Samuel  Provoost,  1 784-1 800. 

Benjamin  Moore,  1800-1816. 

John  H.  Hobart,  1816-1830. 

William  Berrian,  1 830-1 862. 

Morgan  Dix,  1862. 


204  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

The  clergy  at  present  connected  with  the  parish  are  : 
Morgan  Dix,  S.  T.  D Rector. 


ASSISTANT  MINISTERS. 

I. — Assigned  to  Duty  by  the  Vestry. 

Sullivan  H.  Weston,  D.D St.  John's  Chapel. 

Cornelius  E.  Swope,  D.D Trinity  Chapel. 

James  Mulchahey,  D.D St.  Paul's  Chapel. 

George  William  Douglas,  D.D Trinity  Church. 

II. — Assignable  to  duty  by  the  Rector. 

William  H.  Cooke,  Charles  T.  Olmsted,  Philip  A.  H.  Brown. 

III. — In  charge  of  Mission  Chapels. 

Thomas  H.  Sill St.  Chrysostom's  Chapel. 

Edward  H.  C.  Goodwin St.  Cornelius'  Chapel. 

Arthur  C.  Kimber St.  Augustine's  Chapel. 

Louis  A.  Arthur Assistant  Priest  at  Trinity  Church. 

Joseph  W.  Hill "  "  " 

A.J.Thompson, "  "  St.  Paul's. 

J.  R.  L.  Nisbett "  "    St.  Chrysostom's. 

Olin  Hallock "  "      St.  Augustine's. 

William  B.  Hooper "  "  " 

A  rectory  was  purchased  in  1872,  No.  27  West  Twenty- 
fifth  Street. 

St.  Paul's  Chapel  was  opened  in  1766. 

St.  John's  Chapel  was  opened  in  1807. 

Trinity  Chapel  was  opened  in  1855. 

St.  Chrysostom's  Chapel  was  opened  in  1869. 

St.  Augustine's  Chapel  was  opened  in  1877. 

Trinity  Church  School-house  was  opened  in  1872,  with 
extensive  additions  in  1875. 

St.  Paul's  and  St.  John's  have  been  enlarged  and  reno- 
vated from  time  to  time.  Trinity  Chapel  School-house  was 
completed  in  1861,  Dr.  Berrian,  rector.  And  the  infirmary 
in  Varick  Street,  formerly  rectory  of  the  parish,  was  estab- 
lished in  1874,  Dr.  Dix,  rector.  In  the  Convention  Journal 
of  the  diocese  for  1885,  there  is  a  tabulated  statement  of  the 
activities  of  the  entire  parish.  From  the  summary — for  there 
is  not  space  for  the  details  of  each  chapel  and  congregation — 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  205 

are  drawn  these  particulars:  During  the  year  there  were 
1,230  baptisms  administered,  455  received  confirmation,  and 
the  present  number  of  communicants  is  5,396.  Owing  to  the 
destruction  of  the  records  of  the  parish  twice  by  fire,  1746 
and  1776,  it  is  impossible  to  present  full  statistics  since  the 
organization  of  the  parish. 

The  wardens  in  1700  were  Thomas  Wenham  and  Richard 
Willett  ;  in  1710,  David  Jamison  and  John  Crook;  in  1720, 
John  Moore  and  John  Roade  ;  in  1730,  '40  and  '50,  Joseph 
Robinson  and  Joseph  Murray;  1760,  Joseph  Reade  and 
John  Chambers  ;  in  1770,  Joseph  Reade  and  David  Clarkson  ; 
in  1780,  James  Desbrosses  and  John  I.  Kempe ;  in  1790,  John 
Jay  and  James  Duane;  in  1800  John  Charlton  and  Robert 
Watts;  in  1810,  Rufus  King  and  Anthony  L.  Bleecker;  in 
1820,  Richard  Harrison  and  Nehemiah  Rogers;  in  1830, 
Nehemiah  Rogers  and  Charles  McEvers ;  in  1840,  Nehemiah 
Rogers  and  Thomas  L.  Ogden  ;  in  1850,  Adam  Tredwell 
and  Edward  W.  Laight  ;  in  i860,  Wm.  E.  Dunscomb  and 
Robert  Hyslop  ;  in  1870,  Wm.  E.  Dunscombe  and  George 
T.  Strong,  and  in  1880,  Samuel  T.  Skidmore  and  John  J. 
Cisco. 

For  many  years  past  Trinity  parish  has  given  itself  chiefly 
to  the  extension,  nurture  and  conservation  of  Church  work 
in  New  York  city.  As  the  spiritual  destitution  of  that  part 
of  the  city  below  Canal  Street  has  deepened  year  after  year 
by  the  removal  and  dying  out  of  churches  and  missions,  Trin  ity 
has  accepted  the  trust  remaining  on  her  hands,  and  made 
systematic  and  thorough  provision  for  the  immediate  and 
more  pressing  requirements  of  this  vast  and  populous  pre- 
cinct. In  addition  to  the  multiplied  activities  of  the  church 
and  two  chapels,  St.  Paul's  and  St.  John's,  this  region  is 
treated  as  a  missionary  cure,  in  Three  DIVISIONS, — West 
OF  Broadway,  from  Broadway  to  the  North  River,  and  from 
Battery  Place  to  Jay  Street,  and  East  OF  Broadway,  from 
Broadway  to  the  East  River,  and  from  Battery  Place  to 
Broome  Street.  The  Third  Division — German,  is  cared 
for  in  a  German  congregation,  which  meets  in  a  room  fitted 
as  a  chapel   in    Trinity  Church  House.       In   this  extra  pa- 


206  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

rochial  mission-cure,  439  families  receive  pastoral  care  and 
oversight. 

To    illustrate    the   type   of  parish  work    in   church   and 
chapels,  and  all  are  after   much  the  same  pattern,  a  rapid 
summary  of  the  activities  and  organizations  under  way  in 
Trinity  Church  may  be   of  use.     1.  The  Sunday-school  with 
39  teachers  and  602  scholars  ;  2.  The  Industrial  School ;  3.  The 
Daily  Parish  School  for  boys;  4.  The  Night  School ;  5.  The 
Ladies'  Employment  Society ;  6.  The  Altar  Society ;  7.  The 
Guilds,  (a)    For   Boys    and   Young  Men—  (1.)  Guild  of    St. 
Ambrose,  (2.)  Guild  of  the  Holy  Cross,  (3.)  Guild  of  St.  John 
the    Evangelist,  (4.)  Guild  of  St.  Nicholas,  (5.)  Guild  of  St. 
Paul  ;    and  (b)    Guilds    for   Girls   and  Young   Women— (1.) 
Guild    of  the    Good  Shepherd,  (2.)  Guild  of  St.  Agnes,  (3.) 
Guild  of  St.  Mary,  (4.)  Guild  of  St.  Monica;  8.  Week  Day 
Bible  Classes;  9.  Mothers'  Meetings ;  10.  The  Mission  Cure, 
already  described;    II.  Trinity   Church.  Association,    which 
supervises  and  supports:  (1.)  The   Mission  House,  30  State 
Street,  (2.)  The  Physician  and  Dispensary,  (3.)  The  Kinder- 
garten, (4.)  The  Training  School  for  Girls  in  Household  Service, 
(5.)  Reading  Rooms,  etc.,  for  the  guilds  of  men  and  boys,  (6.) 
Entertainments   and    Lectures  for  the  Poor,  (7.)  A  Seaside 
Home  for  Children,  (8.)  A  Relief  Bureau,  and  (9.)  A  kitchen 
garden.     This  association  is  independent  of  the  corporation 
of  Trinity  Church,  and  in    1884  expended  more  than  $11,000 
in  its  several  works.     The  church  has  a  choral  school,  where 
a  thorough  course  in  singing  for  men  and  boys  is  given  by 
Mr.  Messiter,  the  organist  and  musical  director  of  Trinity, 
five  afternoons  each  week.     All  are  taught    free  of  charge, 
and  those  having  special  talent  receive  instruction  in  vocali- 
zation. 

Trinity  Parish  contains  seven  churches,  as  follows : 

1.  Trinity  Church  :  Broadway,  head  of  Wall  Street. 

2.  St.  Paul's  Chapel:  Broadway,  between  Fulton  and  Ve- 
sey  Streets, 

3.  St.  John's  Chapel:  Varick  Street,  above  Beach. 

4.  Trinity  Chapel:  Twenty-fifth  Street,  near  Broadway. 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  207 

5.  St.  Chrysostom  s  Chapel:  Seventh  Avenue,  corner  of 
Thirty-ninth  Street. 

6.  St.  Augustine  s  Chapel:  Houston   Street,  between  the 
Bowery  and  Second  Avenue. 

7.  St.   Cornelius    Chapel:    Governor's   Island,   New  York 
Harbor. 

Of  these  seven  churches,  the  last  three  named  are  entirely 
free;  St.  Paul's  Chapel  also  is  free,  with  the  exception  of  the 
few  pews  owned  by  individuals  in  that  chapel,  over  which  the 
vestry  have  no  control.  St.  John's  Chapel  also  is  almost  en- 
tirely free.  No  pews  are  sold  in  any  of  the  churches  of  this 
parish  ;  while  those  which  are  rented  cannot  be  claimed  by 
the  persons  holding  them  at  any  time  other  than  Sunday 
morning  and  afternoon,  and  on  certain  high  feast  days,  such 
as  Christmas.  At  all  night  services,  all  the  pews  are  free ; 
also  at  all  special  services,  and  always  on  week  days. 

The  pews  in  Trinity  Chapel  are  rented  from  year  to  year 
at  low  rates ;  the  highest  pew  rent  paid  in  that  church  is 
only  $85. 

Ownership  of  pews  in  Trinity  Parish  dates  from  a  very  re- 
mote period  ;  not  within  the  memory  of  living  man  has  any 
pew  been  sold  by  the  corporation.  The  vestry  are  constantly 
acquiring  the  ownership  of  the  pews  by  purchase  from  the 
descendants  of  the  original  possessors,  or  by  sale  on  forfeit- 
ure, and  thus  extinguishing  the  property  in  them,  for  the 
purpose  of  facilitating  the  attendance  of  those  desiring  to 
avail  themselves  of  the  advantages  offered  by  the  churches. 

Three  churches  have  occupied  the  site  on  which  the  present 
parish  church  stands  ;  the  dates  are  as  follows  ; 

The  first  church  was  begun  a.d.  1696,  finished  A.D.  1697, 
enlarged  A.D.  1737,  and  destroyed  by  fire,  A.D.  1776.  The  sec- 
ond church  was  built  A.D.  1788,  and  pulled  down  to  make  room 
for  the  present  one,  A.  D.  1839,  being  then  in  an  unsafe  con- 
dition. The  present  church  was  commenced  A.D.  1839, 
completed  in  the  spring  of  1846,  and  consecrated  on  Ascen- 
sion Day,  May  21st,  of  that  year. 

St.    Paul's   Chapel  was   commenced    May   14,  A.D.   1764, 


2o8  CENTENNIAL  CHURCH   HISTORY. 

the  corner-stone  being  laid  on  that  day.  It  was  completed 
A.D.  1766,  and  first  opened  for  divine  service  October  30th, 
of  that  year.  In  1866  the  centennial  was  observed  with  a 
three-days'  festival;  and  in  1874  the  chapel  was  declared 
free,  and  it  was  ordered  that  no  pews  be  hereafter  rented  in 
it  by  the  vestry. 

St.  John's  Chapel  was  commenced  A.D.  1803,  and  com- 
pleted A.D.  1807.  It  was  consecrated  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop 
Moore,  in  the  year  in  which  it  was  completed.  It  has  under- 
gone alteration  and  enlargement  three  times. 

Trinity  Chapel  was  commenced  A.  D.  185 1,  and  fully  com- 
pleted A.  D.  1856  ;  its  consecration  took  place  April  17,  1855, 
before  it  was  quite  finished.  It  was  built  for  the  accommo- 
dation of  those  of  the  parishioners  who,  having  removed  to 
the  upper  part  of  the  city,  were  at  such  distances  from  the 
churches  of  the  parish  that  they  could  not  attend  them  with- 
out great  inconvenience  and  difficulty. 

St.  Chrysostom's  Chapel  is  a  free  mission  church,  built  in 
accordance  with  the  provisions  of  an  act  of  the  Legislature, 
passed  April  23,  1867.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  by  the 
Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Potter,  assisted  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Neely, 
on  the  28th  day  of  October,  A.D.  1868;  the  first  service  was 
held  in  the  church  November  7,  1869,  and  the  chapel  was 
consecrated  October  30,  1879.  Tllis  is  tlie  first  of  a  class  of 
chapels  intended  for  the  accommodation  of  persons  residing 
in  districts  in  which  there  are  few  or  no  wealthy  inhabitants. 
Each  is  regarded  as  a  center  of  missionary  operations,  and 
they  are  to  be  within  convenient  reach  of  the  class  for  which 
they  are  intended. 

St.  Augustine's  Chapel  is  a  free  mission  church,  of  the 
same  class  as  St.  Chrysostom's.  The  corner-stone  was  laid 
on  the  2d  day  of  September,  1876  ;  and  the  chapel  was  con- 
secrated on  the  feast  of  St.  Andrew  the  Apostle,  November 
30,  1877,  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Horatio  Potter,  Bishop  of  the  Dio- 
cese of  New  York.  This  chapel  stands  on  East  Houston 
Street,  between  the  Bowery  and  Second  Avenue. 

In  addition  to  these  churches,  there  is  included  in  the  par- 
ish the  Chapel  of  St.  Cornelius,  on  Governor's  Island.     That 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  200, 

chapel  was  built  more  than  twenty  years  ago,  by  the  free- 
will offerings  of  churchmen  in  this  city,  through  the  exertions 
of  the  Rev.  John  McVickar,  S.  T.  D.,  U.  S.  Chaplain  at  Fort 
Columbus.  About  the  year  1866,  Governor's  Island  was 
dropped  from  the  list  of  army  posts  for  which  chaplains  are 
provided,  the  War  Department  announcing  as  a  reason  for 
that  step,  that  as  the  island  is  within  the  limits  of  the  First 
Ward  of  the  City  of  New  York,  the  religious  denominations 
of  the  city  ought  to  feel  interest  enough  in  the  spiritual  wel- 
fare of  the  men  at  the  post  to  see  that  they  were  provided 
with  the  ministrations  of  the  Gospel.  The  post-chaplaincy 
having  been  discontinued,  and  the  chapel,  erected  by  church- 
men, being  thus  in  jeopardy,  the  Corporation  of  Trinity 
Church  made  the  following  proposition  to  the  War  Depart- 
ment :  That  if  the  chapel  should  be  placed  at  their  disposal 
and  under  their  control,  they  would  maintain  a  clergyman 
there  at  their  own  cost,  who  should  perform  all  the  duties  of 
post-chaplain.  The  proposition  was  accepted  August,  1868; 
and,  in  consequence,  the  chapel  of  St.  Cornelius  is  included 
among  the  chapels  of  this  parish. 

OTHER   CHURCHES    MAINTAINED    WHOLLY   OR   IN    PART    BY 
THE    CORPORATION. 

In  addition  to  the  seven  churches  belonging  to  Trinity 
Parish,  twenty  receive  aid  in  the  shape  of  annual  donations 
and  contributions  toward  their  support.  Of  these  the  first 
in  order  of  importance  is  St.  Luke's,  Hudson  Street,  opposite 
Grove.  This  is,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word,  a  mission 
church,  having  daily  morning  and  evening  prayer,  the  weekly 
Communion,  a  large  Sunday  School,  a  Parochial  School,  and 
several  clergymen,  one  of  whom  resides  in  the  Ninth  Ward, 
in  the  midst  of  the  poor  population  in  that  quarter  of  the 
town.  St.  Luke's  Church  has  scarcely  a  wealthy  person  con- 
nected with  it ;  the  people  are  unable  to  support  it ;  and  the 
building  would  have  been  sold,  and  the  site  abandoned  long 
ago,  had  not  the  Corporation  of  Trinity  interposed  to  prevent 
that  calamity.  The  allowance  of  $10,000  per  annum  to  this 
church  is  still  continued  ;  in  consideration  of  which  annual 
14 


210  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

grant,  and  of  additional  assistance  in  enlarging  the  church 
and  providing  greater  accommodations  for  the  people  of  the 
district  in  which  it  is  situated,  St.  Luke's  has  been  made 
free. 

Next  in  order  to  be  mentioned  is  All  Saints'  Church,  situ- 
ated at  the  corner  of  Henry  and  Scammel  Streets,  in  the 
south-eastern  part  of  the  city,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  tenement- 
house  population.  This  church  would  also  have  been  sold 
and  removed  long  ago,  had  not  Trinity  Vestry  kept  it  where 
it  is,  and  where  they  intend,  God  willing,  that  it  shall  remain. 
To  this  church  there  is  made,  including  the  payment  of  in- 
terest on  mortgages,  an  allowance  of  about  $6,000  per  annum. 
The  allowance  was  increased  very  considerably  some  years 
ago,  and  funds  were  advanced  to  build  a  parsonage  close  by 
the  church,  on  the  express  condition  that  the  church  should 
be  free,  henceforth,  and  that  the  rector  should  reside  in  the 
house  so  provided  for  him. 

Among  the  churches  aided  by  the  corporation  are  the 
Church  of  the  Nativity,  Avenue  C ;  St.  Clement's,  West 
Third  Street ;  Holy  Martyrs',  Forsyth  Street ;  the  Church  of 
the  Epiphany,  East  Fiftieth  Street;  St.  Peter's,  Twentieth 
Street,  near  Ninth  Avenue  ;  Holy  Apostles',  Ninth  Avenue 
and  Twenty-eighth  Street  ;  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  West 
Eleventh  Street ;  St.  Ann's,  St.  Ambrose's,  St.  Philip's,  All 
Angels',  and  St.  Timothy's,  all  doing  mission  work  in  poor 
districts  of  the  town.  Besides  the  aid  extended  to  these  and 
others,  annual  allowances  are  made  to  the  Mission  for  Sea- 
men in  the  city  and  Port  of  New  York ;  to  the  City  Mission 
Society,  to  enable  them  to  support  the  chaplain  at  St.  Barna- 
bas' House,  304  Mulberry  Street ;  to  the  Italian  Mission  in 
this  city;  to  the  Spanish  Church  at  Santiago;  to  Hobart 
College,  in  the  Diocese  of  Western  New  York ;  and  to  St. 
James'  Church,  Hyde  Park.  St.  Luke's  Hospital  receives 
$2,000  per  annum,  for  which  five  beds  are  at  the  disposal  of  the 
Corporation  ;  to  the  Episcopal  Fund  of  the  Diocese,  and  the 
Diocesan  Fund,  large  sums  are  annually  paid;  and  the  ex- 
penses of  the  Convention  fall  in  large  measure  on  the  Vestry 
of  Trinity  Church.     The  donations,  allowances,  etc.,  outside 


PARISH    HISTORIES.  211 

the  parish,  from  August  I,  1879,  t°  August  I,  1880,  amounted 
to  $42,716.01. 

Under  the  earlier  administration  of  the  parish  it  is  a  mat- 
ter of  history  that  her  benefactions  have  been  lavishly  dis- 
tributed among  the  old  parishes  at  their  several  organizations, 
and  by  frequent  gifts  and  loans  in  times  of  pecuniary  need 
and  emergency;  not  to  mention  numerous  and  generous 
grants  to  parishes  and  corporations  elsewhere  in  the  State  of 
New  York. 

WHAT   THE   VESTRY   OF    TRINITY   CHURCH   DO   WITH    THEIR 

INCOME. 

The  question  is  frequently  asked,  "  What  do  you  do  with 
the  income  of  the  Trinity  Church  property?"  Without  giv- 
ing the  exact  figures,  let  it  suffice  to  say  that  the  income  for 
the  year  from  all  sources  falls  short  of  $500,000.  Now  with 
this  income  the  things  to  be  done  fall  under  the  following 
heads : 

I. — The  Maintenance  of  Seven  Churches  of  the 
PARISH;  almost  the  entire  maintenance  of  them,  for  the 
amount  of  income  derived  from  all  the  pew  rents  when  paid 
does  not  exceed  one-twentieth  of  the  sum  expended  in  the 
support  of  these  churches.  Under  this  head  are  included  the 
salaries  of  18  Clergymen,  7  Organists,  100  Choristers,  and  12 
Sextons  and  Assistant  Sextons. 

n. — The  Maintenance  of  a  System  of  Daily  Parish 
SCHOOLS,  of  which  there  are  six,  all  free  of  charge  to  pupils; 
this  includes  the  salaries  of  26  teachers,  male  and  female,  and 
all  the  supplies  requisite  for  about  1,000  scholars. 

III. — The  Maintenance  of  a  System  of  Sunday 
Schools  and  Industrial  Schools,  to  each  of  which 
classes  of  schools  annual  appropriations  are  made  ;  during 
the  past  year  the  Industrial  Schools  received  $3,000,  and  the 
Sunday  Schools  a  much  larger  sum,  including  the  cost  of 
books,  religious  papers,  leaflets,  etc.,  and  the  means  of  hold- 
ing festivals  in  the  holiday  seasons. 

IV. — Provision  for  the  Sick  Poor  of  the  parish,  and  of 
other  needy  persons,  without  regard  to  their  parochial  con- 


212  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

nections,  by  the  maintenance  of  the  infirmary,  at  50  Varick 
Street,  having  thirty  beds,  at  an  annual  cost  of  $8,000;  and  the 
support  of  five  beds  at  St.  Luke's  Hospital,  for  which  $2,000 
is  paid. 

V. — Provision  for  the  Medical  Attendance  on  Cer- 
tain Other  Sick  ;  the  supply  of  medicine  at  a  dispensary 
connected  with  the  infirmary  ;  and  the  burial  of  those  of  the 
parish  poor  who  die  in  destitute  circumstances. 

VI. — The  Support,  to  a  Greater  or  Lesser  Extent, 
of  other  Churches  Outside  the  Parish. — Among  these 
is  one  which  receives  $10,000  annually,  and  another  which 
receives  $6,000  annually,  and  sixteen  more  which  receive 
smaller  sums  varying  according  to  their  needs. 

VII. — The  Aid  Extended  to  Societies  and  Institu- 
tions, OTHER  THAN  Churches  ;  among  these  are:  the  Sea- 
men's Mission  in  the  Port  of  New  York  ;  the  City  Mission 
Society  ;  the  support  of  a  chaplain  at  St.  Barnabas  House ; 
the  Italian  Mission  in  New  York ;  the  Church  German  So- 
ciety; Hobart  College  at  Geneva,  N.  Y. ;  the  grants  and 
allowances  thus  made  amount  to  between  $40,000  and  $50,- 
OOO  annually. 

VIII. — General  Church  Expenditures;  including, 
annual  payment  to  Diocesan  Fund  ;  Expenses  of  the  Annual 
Diocesan  Convention,  including  provision  for  place  of  meet- 
ing, service,  music  at  opening,  and  refreshments  during  the 
session  ;  contribution  to  the  support  of  the  Bishop  of  the 
Diocese,  by  way  of  a  subscription  to  his  salary. 

IX. — Expenses  of  the  Estate  and  Property  of  the 
Corporation  of  Trinity  Church;  this  includes  the  Office 
of  the  Corporation,  with  a  Comptroller ;  a  Clerk  and  Coun- 
sel ;  eight  Bookkeepers,  Agents,  etc.  The  repairs  and  altera- 
tions required  in  the  houses  of  the  estate,  occupying  about 
750  city  lots  in  all ;  the  annual  taxes  paid  on  Trinity  Church 
property  ;  these  amounted  last  year  (taxes  and  water  rents)  to 
about  $63,000.  And  here  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  Church 
property  is  not,  as  some  suppose,  exempt  from  taxation  ; 
on  the  contrary,  taxes  are  paid  on  every  square  inch  of 
ground  used  for  secular  purposes,  and  on  every  building  ex- 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  213 

cepting  the  churches,  schoolhouses,  infirmary,  and  burial 
grounds. 

X. — The  Keeping  up  of  the  Ancient  Churchyards* 
and  of  Trinity  Cemetery.  The  old  burial  grounds  of  Trinity 
Church,  St.  Paul's  Chapel,  and  St.  John's  Chapel  bring  in  no 
revenue,  and  are  a  continual  source  of  expense,  in  keeping 
them  in  good  order,  beautifying  them,  repairing  dilapidated 
monuments,  and  recutting  inscriptions.  Trinity  Cemetery  is 
also  a  source  of  very  heavy  expense,  though  a  small  income 
is  derived  from  it.  The  estimated  cost  of  necessary  expendi- 
tures in  it  next  year  will  exceed  by  upwards  of  $20,000  the 
income  derived  from  the  sale  of  plots. 

XI.— The  Payment  of  Pensions  to  certain  persons  en- 
titled to  that  aid,  such  as,  for  example,  the  widows  of  deceased 
ministers  of  the  parish. 

The  foregoing  table  presents  a  general  view  of  the  annual 
expenses ;  and  placing  that  income  at  about  $500,000,  and 
considering  the  great  variety  of  objects  had  in  view,  religious, 
educational,  and  charitable,  in  the  management  of  this  valu- 
able trust,  the  writer  may  be  permitted  to  ask  where  an  in- 
stance can  be  found  in  which  either  individual  or  corporation 
is  doing  more  or  better  things  for  the  community  with  the 
same  amount  of  money,  in  the  way  of  maintaining  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  furnishing  the  means  of  a  good  education,  com- 
forting and  succoring  the  sick,  relieving  the  needy,  cultivat- 
ing the  taste  of  the  people  by  the  refining  influences  of  music, 
architecture,  and  beautiful  worship,  and  thus  promoting  the 
best  interests  of  society,  and  contributing  toward  the  security 
and  permanency  of  the  institutions  of  our  common  civiliza- 
tion. 

ST.  ANDREW'S  CHURCH,  RICHMOND  CO.* 

This  parish  was  admitted  at  the  first  Convention  of  the 
diocese,  1785.  In  the  Convention  of  1787,  Rev.  John  H. 
Rowland,  rector,  took  part.  Rev.  Richard  C.  Moore  was  rec- 
tor in  1792,  and  in  1806  reported  (first  report  to  the  Conven- 
tion on  record):  Families  in  number  at  least  300,  communi- 
cants   140,  and  baptisms  annually  about  80.     In   1809  Rev. 


214  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

David  Moore  was  rector,  and  in  1812  there  was  a  church  and 
also  a  chapel.  It  is  impossible  to  produce  the  entire  list 
of  rectors.  In  1885  Rev.  Thos.  S.  Yocum  was  rector,  and 
C.  L.  Ferine  and  Nathan  Britter  wardens.  The  number  of 
communicants  was  100. 

CHRIST   CHURCH,  POUGHKEEPSIE. 

This  parish  was  organized  October  26,  1766,  and  re- 
ceived a  royal  charter  dated  March  9,  1773.  The  first 
church  was  built  and  opened  in  the  fall  of  1774,  the  consecra- 
tion sermon  being  preached  on  Christmas  Day,  1774,  by  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Provoost,  afterward  bishop  of  the  diocese.  *  Its 
present  edifice  was  built  in  1833.  The  rectors  and  clergy 
have  been:  Rev.  John  Beardsley,  1766-1777  ;  in  this  con- 
nection is  given  an  extract  from  the  record-book  of  the  vestry  : 
"  December  14,  1777,  by  order  of  the  Council  of  Safety,  the 
Revd.  John  Beardsley  was  removed  to  New  York."  Rev. 
Henry  Van  Dyke  officiated  while  he  was  still  a  candidate  for 
orders  in  1784.  He  was  rector  from  1787-1791  ;  Rev.  George 
H.  Spieren,  1 792-1 795  ;  Rev.  John  M.  Sayrs,  1796-1798; 
Rev.  Philander  Chase,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Illinois,  1799- 
1805;  Rev.  Barzillai  Buckley,  1806-1809;  Rev.  Joseph  Pren- 
tice, minister  in  charge,  February  to  July,  1810;  Rev.  John 
Reed,  D.D.,  1810-1845  ;  Rev.  Homer  Wheaton,  assistant 
minister  from  1842,  and  rector  1 846-1 847  ;  Rev.  Samuel 
Buel,  D.D.,  1847-1866;  Rev.  Philander  K.  Cady,  D.D., 
1 866-1 875  ;  Rev.  Henry  L.  Ziegenfuss,  vice  Dr.  Cady,  1874- 
1875,  and  rector  since  November  1,  1885. 

There  is  a  parish  school-building  of  brick,  two  stories 
high,  after  plans  by  Upjohn,  which  was  erected  in  1857,  dur- 
ing the  rectorship  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Buel,  at  a  cost  of  $7,000, 
by  Mr.  William  A.  Davies  and  his  wife,  and  by  them  pre- 
sented to  the  parish.  Also  during  the  same  rectorship  steps 
were  taken  and  matured  for  founding  and  building  the  memo- 
rial Church  of  the  Holy  Comforter,  of  which  the  rector  was 
chief  promoter  and  a  trustee,  until  after  the  establishment  of 

*  This  MS.  discourse  is  in  the  possession  of  the  editor  of  this  volume. 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  21  5 

its  first  rector.  And  it  is  also  memorable  that  under  the 
same  rectorship  the  valuable  new  organ  was  purchased,  its 
present  choir  built,  and  the  entire  interior  of  the  church 
renovated  and  decorated. 

Since  organization  3,276  baptisms  are  recorded,  and  1,022 
had  received  confirmation  since  1846,  previous  to  which  date 
no  record  of  confirmations  exists.  There  are  at  present  about 
400  communicants.  The  wardens  in  1766  were  Bartholomew 
Cromwell  and  Samuel  Smith;  in  1776,  Isaac  Baldwin  and 
Henry  Vanderburgh  ;  in  1786,  Richard  Davis  and  William 
Emott ;  in  1796,  the  same;  in  1806,  John  Davis  and  John 
Reade  ;  in  1816,  James  Emott  and  David  Brookes;  in  1826, 
James  Emott  and  William  Davies  ;  in  1836,  William  Davies 
and  James  Emott;  in  1846,  Hubert  Van  Wagenen  and  Isaac 
T.  Baldwin  ;  in  1 856,  Thomas  L.  Davies  and  Isaac  T.  Baldwin  ; 
in  1866,  Thomas  L.  Davies  and  George  M.  Van  Kleeck ;  in 
1876,  the  same,  and  in  1886,  Le  Grand  Dodge  and  Edward 
H.  Parker,  M.D. 

This  parish  has,  from  the  beginning  of  its  history,  on  ac- 
count of  its  commanding  position  and  social  vigor,  exercised 
an  active  and  for  a  long  time  a  leading  influence  in  church 
development  throughout  the  county.  Two  important  par- 
ishes have  grown  up  at  its  side  in  Poughkeepsie  without  im- 
pairing its  resources — in  the  latter  instance  under  the  sole  and 
lavish  beneficence  of  a  single  family,  long  historically  and 
officially  connected  with  Christ  Church  Parish. 

ST.  GEORGE'S   CHURCH,  NEWBURGH, 

Was  incorporated  by  royal  charter,  July  30,  1770.  The  first 
church  edifice  was  built  prior  to  1750,  and  the  present  church 
in  1819.  The  earliest  recorded  ministry  was  performed  by 
Rev.  G.  H.  Spierin.as  ministerand  glebe  schoolmaster,  in  1790. 
May  3,  1791,  he  resigned  the  school,  and  in  1793  accepted  a  call 
to  the  Parish  of  Christ  Church,  Poughkeepsie.  September, 
18,  1816,  Rev.  Cave  Jones  was  elected  and  instituted  rector 
for  legal  purposes  only.  He  resigned  in  18 16.  September 
18,  1816,  the  Rev.  John  Brown — who  had  been  in  effect 
rector    from    December    1,    181 5 — was   elected    rector    and 


2l6  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

accepted  November  21,  1816.  After  a  vigorous,  successful, 
and  almost  unprecedented  ministry  of  sixty-two  years,  he  re- 
signed February  16,  1878,  but  was  made  Rector  Emeritus  for 
life.  He  died  August  15,  1884.  February  26,  1878,  Rev. 
Octavius  Applegate,  who,  since  November  8,  1868,  had  been 
assistant  minister  with  full  pastoral  charge,  became  rector 
of  the  parish. 

The  following  clergy  have  officiated  in  the  parish  under  the 
rector  as  assistants  in  various  duties:  In  1810,  Rev.  William 
Powell  ;  in  1859,  Rev.  C.  S.  Henry,  D.D. ;  in  1859,  R-ev-  Ho- 
bart  Chetwood  ;  in  i860,  Rev.  J.  W.  Clark;  in  1866,  Rev.  J. 
F.  Potter;  in  1868,  Rev.  Alexander  Davidson  ;  in  1872,  Rev. 
N.  R.  Boss  ;  in  1873,  Rev.  J.  H.  Smith;  in  1874,  Rev.  G.  W. 
Hinkle;  in  1876,  Rev.  G.  D.  Silliman  ;  in  1877,  R-ev-  A.  C. 
Hoehing ;  in  1881,  Rev.  Jas.  Baird,  D.D. ;  in  1881,  Rev. 
Sturges  Allen,  and  in  1884,  Rev.  G.  A.  Rathbun. 

A  rectory  was  purchased  in  April,  1884.  In  1853  a  Sun- 
day-school house  was  built,  Dr.  Brown,  rector;  and  St. 
George's  Mission  Chapel,  in  1873,  by  the  assistant  minister, 
Rev.  O.  Applegate. 

Since  181 5  there  has  been  3,138  baptisms  and  1,360  have 
received  confirmation. 

In  1 8 1 5  there  were  3  communicants;  in  1825,  81;  in 
I835.93;  in  1845,  167;  in  1855,  194;  in  1865,259;  in  1875, 
400,  and  at  present  there  are  437. 

The  wardens  have  been:  In  1805,  Arthur  Smith  and 
George  Merritt ;  in  181 5,  David  Fowler  and  William  Taylor; 
in  1825,  David  Fowler  and  Joseph  Hoffman  ;  in  1835,  Joseph 
Hoffman  and  Charles  Ludlow;  in  1845,  Joseph  Hoffman  and 
Frederick  Betts  ;  in  1855,  D.  G.  Leonard  and  Homer  Rams- 
dell ;  in  1865,  Homer  Ramsdell  and  David  Moore;  in  1875, 
the  same;  in  1885,  Homer  Ramsdell  and  D.  B.  St.  John. 

In  1826  galleries  were  put  in  the  church  and  an  organ  pro- 
cured. In  1834  the  church  was  enlarged,  a  steeple  built,  and 
a  bell  provided.  In  1853  a  further  enlargement  was  made 
and  the  old  organ  replaced  by  a  new  one. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Brown  reorganized  the  parish  at  New  Wind- 
sor April  8,  18 1 8,  and  held  the  rectorship  twenty-nine  years. 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  2\J 

In  March,  1859, the  vestry  of  St.  George's  Church,  to  provide 
for  the  increasing  demand  for  pews,  purchased  a  building  at 
the  expense  of  $4,000,  substantially  built  of  brick,  with  sit- 
tings for  400  persons ;  $2,500  was  expended  in  preparing  it 
for  divine  service.  It  was  consecrated  May  10,  1859,  with 
the  title  of  St.  John's  Chapel. 

What  is  now  St.  Paul's  Parish  was  organized  the  following 
year.  In  1864  it  was  found  inexpedient  to  continue  services 
in  St.  John's  Chapel,  and  the  building  was  disposed  of. 

St.  George's  Mission  was  opened  in  1873,  and  a  chapel 
built,  which  was  enlarged  in  1880.  In  1874  ladies  of  St. 
George's  Church  projected  a  home  and  hospital.  It  was  in- 
corporated by  ladies  of  both  Newburgh  and  New  Windsor, 
January  5,  1876,  and  is  now  a  flourishing  institution  for  the 
care  of  the  aged,  sick,  and  injured,  under  the  title  of  St. 
Luke's  Home  and  Hospital.  In  1880  and  1881  the  pews  of 
the  church  were  remodeled,  the  chancel  decorated,  and  a 
beautiful  chancel  window  erected. 

ST.  ANDREW'S  CHURCH,  WALDEN. 

This  parish  was  organized  under  an  Act  of  Incorporation 
granted  by  George  III.,  dated  July  23,  1770.  Immediately  a 
church  was  begun,  and  completed  within  twelve  months,  in 
1770-1771.  The  second  edifice  was  consecrated  by  Bishop 
Hobart,  September  3,  1826  ;  and  the  third  and  present  church 
was  erected  in  1871.  The  rectors  have  been  Rev.  Geo.  H. 
Spierin,  missionary  at  Newburgh  and  this  church,  1790-1793  ; 
Rev.  Frederick  Van  Horn,  1 793-1 806;  Rev.  Mr.  McLen,  1807- 
1808;  Rev.  William  Powell,  probably  from  1810-1818;  Rev. 
Samuel  Phinney,  1818-1821  ;  Rev.  James  P.  Cotter,  1821- 
1822;  Rev.  J.  P.  Harrison,  1826-1827;  Rev.  Wm.  H.  Lewis, 
1827;  Rev.  Albert  Hoyt,  1827-1829,  until  his  decease; 
Rev.  Nathan  Kingsbury,  1829-1830;  Rev.  Wm.  H.  Hart, 
1830-1836;  Rev.  Robt.  Shaw,  1836-1838  ;  Rev.  Henry  W. 
Sweetzer,  1838-1842;  Rev.  Horace  Hills,  Jr.,  1843-1844; 
Rev.  Wm.  H.  Hart,  1844-1850;  Rev.  J.  W.  Stewart,  1851- 
1856;  Rev.  Samuel  C.  Davis,  1856— 1859  5  R-ev-  J-  G.  Jacocks, 
1859-1861  ;   Rev.   James  W.   Stewart,  1861-1 869  ;  Rev.  Levi 


2l8  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

Johnston,  1869-1874;  Rev.  Wm.  E.  Snowdon,  1874-1877; 
Rev.  N.  F.Robinson,  1877-1879;  Rev.  Francis  Washburn, 
1877-1882  ;  Rev.  W.  W.  de  Hart,  18S2-1883;  and  Rev.  Cy- 
rus K.  Capron,  present  rector.  The  first  rectory  was  built  in 
1796  ;  the  second  in  1829,  and  the  third  in  1872.  A  fine  par- 
ish house,  including  chapel,  parish  parlors,  etc.,  was  erected 
in  1884,  during  the  present  rectorship.  Since  organization, 
938  baptisms  have  been  recorded,  and  325  have  received  con- 
firmation. The  first  list  of  communicants  in  the  register  has 
64  names,  but  it  is  without  date.  In  1835  there  appears  to 
have  been  54  ;  in  1845,  about  78  ;  in  1855,  about  53  ;  in  1865, 
about  66  ;  in  1875,  it  is  impossible  to  ascertain  (and  much 
confusion  and  irregularity  are  found  through  the  century),  and 
the  present  number  is  about  100. 

The  wardens  in  1785  were  Dr.  James  G.  Graham  and  Dr. 
David  Galatian  ;  in  1795,  Justus  Banks  and  Andrew  Graham  ; 
in  1805,  John  Antill  and  James  G.Graham;  in  1815,  the 
same;  in  1825,  Thomas  Colden  and  H.  Y.  Bogert ;  in  1835, 
Nicholas  J.  Bogert  and  Jacob  Y.  Walden  ;  in  1845,  185 5 
and  1865,  George  Weller  and  George  G.  Graham;  in  1875, 
George  Weller  and  James  Bogert,  and  in  1885,  George  Weller 
and  James  Stewart.  Mr.  Cadwallader  Colden,  Jr.,  son  of 
the  "  Lieut. -Governor  and  Commander-in-chief  of  the  Prov- 
ince of  New  York,"  was  a  warden  up  to  and  during  the  time 
of  the  Revolution  to  1785,  and,  with  one  or  more  intermis- 
sions, continued  for  nearly  ten  years  longer.  The  present 
senior  warden,  Mr.  George  Weller,  Sr.,  became  a  vestryman 
in  1831,  and  was  elected  warden  in  1841,  and  has  faithfully 
served  the  parish  in  this  position  continually  for  forty-five 
years. 

As  early  as  the  year  1732  or  1733,  the  Venerable  Society  of 
London  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts 
sent  the  Rev.  Richard  Charlton  as  their  missionary  in  this  re- 
gion, which  soon  embraced  three  missionary  stations,  viz. : 
at  New  Windsor,  on  the  Hudson  River;  at  the  Otter-kill, 
in  Orange  County,  and  Wallkill,  in  Ulster  County.  During 
the  ministry  of  the  Rev.  Hezekiah  Watkins,  who,  being  rec- 
ommended by  Dr.  Johnson,  of  Connecticut,  went  to  England 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  219 

for  ordination,  which  began  about  1744,  "  a  temporary  log 
house,  with  a  fire-place  in  it,"  was  erected.  This  building 
stood  about  two  miles  from  the  present  location  of  the  church. 

In  the  year  1770  the  Rev.  John  Sayre,  being  in  charge  of 
the  mission,  which  was  then  known  as  "Newburgh  and  parts 
adjacent,"  obtained  "  a  charter  of  incorporation  "  from  George 
the  Third,  for  each  church,  viz.,  "  by  the  name  of  St.  George's, 
Newburgh,  in  the  County  of  Ulster,  St.  Andrew's  Church,  in 
the  precinct  of  Walkill,  in  the  County  of  Ulster,  and  St.  Da- 
vid's Church,  in  the  County  of  Orange  ;  all  dated  the  30th  of 
July,  1770."  By  a  change  in  the  limits  of  Ulster  County  St. 
George's,  Newburgh,  and  St.  Andrew's,  Walden,  became  sit- 
uated in  Orange  County.  Accordingly,  churches  were  imme- 
diately begun  at  St.  David's  and  St.  Andrew's  ;  but  the 
former  was  never  completed.  St.  Andrew's  Church  is  de- 
scribed as  follows  in  the  quaint  historical  record:  Having- 
raised  ^400,  "  they  immediately  set  about  building  a  church 
and  a  house  for  a  sexton  on  ten  acres  of  land  given  by  Mr. 
Peter  Du  Bois  for  that  purpose,  and  in  less  than  twelve 
months  completed  a  very  handsome  church  of  56  feet  by  44, 
with  pulpit,  reading  desk,  chancel,  and  pews,  and  two  rows  of 
large  glass  windows,  so  as  to  admit  of  galleries  when  wanted, 
the  whole  well  painted." 

I  will  quote  again  from  this  history,  written  probably  by 
CadwalladerColden,  Jr.,  on  the  effect  of  the  Revolution  upon, 
the  Church.  After  speaking  of  Mr.  Sayre's  sudden  departure 
just  before  war,  he  says  :  "  The  troubles  that  soon  ensued  put 
an  end  to  all  Church  matters  in  this  part  of  the  country,  for 
the  pulling  down  and  overturning  the  church  seemed  among 
many  of  the  Dissenters  the  prevailing  motives  that  often  in- 
fluenced them  in  party  matters.  Indeed,  it  was  the  political 
engine  of  the  day,  consequently  every  Churchman  was  perse- 
cuted under  the  name  of  a  Tory  or  Loyalist  ;  so  that  of  the 
few  that  were  heretofore  zealous  in  the  cause  of  the  Church, 
most  of  them  have  either  been  driven  entirely  out  of  the  coun- 
try, or  are  so  reduced  that  it  is  not  in  their  power  to  encour- 
age the  re-establishment  of  Church  discipline  and  worship, 
unless  assisted  by  the  more  opulent  brethren  in  other  parts. 


220  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

Happily  the  church  itself,  or  building  at  St.  Andrews,  escaped 
the  depredation  of  the  times,  and  remains  in  good  condition, 
except  most  of  the  glass,  that  has  been  broken  by  some  mis- 
chievous boys,  chiefly  since  the  war.  But  it  serves  now  only 
as  a  monument,  to  show  to  what  we  were  once  aspiring,  and 
to  what  we  are  now  fallen." 

In  spite  of  constant  efforts,  the  services  were  not  resumed 
after  the  Revolution  until  1790. 

In  1826  it  was  resolved  to  erect  a  church  edifice,  to  be 
called  Trinity  Chapel,  in  the  village  of  Walden,  about  two 
miles  from  St.  Andrews,  the  then  site  of  St.  Andrew's  church. 
The  new  church  was  consecrated  by  Bishop  Hobart,  Sep- 
tember 3,  1827,  and  then  became  the  parish  church,  and  the 
old  church  at  St.  Andrews  being  abandoned,  was  afterward 
sold. 

The  wisdom  of  this  change  of  location  is  proved  by  the  fact 
that  Village  St.  Andrews  now  consists  of  only  a  few  houses, 
while  Walden  has  a  population  of  2,500.  In  1829  the  parish 
sold  all  its  property  at  St.  Andrew's  except  the  burying 
ground,  and  built  a  rectory  in  the  village  of  Walden.  The 
above-mentioned  church  and  rectory  were  sold,  and  a  beau- 
tiful brick  church  with  a  spacious  rectory  were  built  in  1871- 
1872,  upon  a  corner  lot  in  the  center  of  the  village.  In  1884 
a  fine  parish  house  was  built  upon  the  same  lot. 

TRINITY  CHURCH,  NEW  ROCHELLE* 

No  report  was  received  from  this  parish,  and  the  following 
particulars  as  well  as  those  concerning  Christ  Church,  Rye, 
are  obtained  chiefly  from  Bolton's  History  of  the  Church  in 
Westchester  County  and  from  the  Journals  of  the  Convention. 
The  first  settlers  in  New  Rochelle  were  a  band  of  Huguenots 
or  French  Protestants,  who  had  sought  refuge  in  England  in 
1681.  A  church  was  organized  at  the  beginning  of  the  settle- 
ment, which  maintained  the  Articles,  Liturgy,  Discipline  and 
Canons  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  France.  Their  first 
church  was  built  of  wood  about  1692-3.  The  pastor  who  ac- 
companied them  was  Rev.  David  Bonrepos,  D.D.;  nothing  is 
known  of  his  ministry  and  it  must  have  been  of  brief  dura- 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  221 

tion.  His  successor  was  Rev.  Daniel  Bordet,  A.M.,  a  French- 
man, but  a  refugee,  who  accompanied  a  colony  which  reached 
Boston  in  1686.  He  had  received  Holy  Orders  in  London 
from  Bishop  Compton.  He  probably  reached  New  Rochelle 
in  1695.  Negotiations  working  towards  conformity  with  the 
Church  of  England  were  begun,  in  which  Rev.  John  Bartow, 
Colonel  Heathcote  and  others  figure.  This  was  consummated 
in  1709,  and  a  license  to  erect  a  church  was  given  in  17 10,  and 
the  building  of  stone  began  at  once  and  was  finished  in 
November  of  the  same  year.  It  stood  a  little  east  of  the 
present  church.  The  Venerable  Propagation  Society  extended 
its  usual  generous  grants  in  books  and  money.  In  1714, 
Queen  Anne  granted  the  royal  charter  for  the  church  and 
ground,  and  about  the  same  time  "  the  town  gave  a  house 
and  three  acres  of  land  adjoining  the  church  for  the  use  of 
this  clergyman  forever."  Mr.  Bordet  died  in  September, 
1722,  having  served  the  church  nearly  twenty-six  years.  Rev. 
John  Bartow  supplied  services  until  a  successor  was  ap- 
pointed, Rev.  Pierre  Stouppe,  A.M.,  in  1724.  A  second 
church,  of  wood,  was  built  during  the  incumbency  of  Rev. 
Lewis  Pintard  Bayard,  A.M.,  about  1825.  Still  a  third 
church,  of  elaborate  Gothic  design,  in  stone,  was  built  but  a 
few  years  ago.  In  1 761,  Rev.  Michael  Houdin  became  rector; 
in  1770,  Rev.  Theodosius  Bartow;  in  1819,  Rev.  Ravaud 
Kearney;  in  1821,  Rev.  Lewis  P.  Bayard;  in  1827,  Rev. 
Lawson  Carter  ;  in  1839,  Rev«  Thomas  Winthrop  Cook,  D.D. ; 
in  1849,  Rev.  Richard  Winstead  Morgan,  D.D.,  who  retired 
in  1873;  in  1874,  Rev.  J.  Henry  Watson,  and  in  1876,  Rev. 
Charles  F.  Canedy,  present  incumbent. 

From  1724,  when  the  baptismal  register  begins,  to  1853, 
108  had  been  baptized.  The  communicants,  in  1709,  were  43  ; 
in  1724,45;  in  1733,35:  in  1750,68;  in  1804,  18;  in  1819, 
27  ;  in  1847,  46  5  in  1853,  56,  and  in  1855,  220. 

Under  the  charter,  the  wardens  in  1762  were  Jacob 
Bleecker  and  James  De  Blenz  ;  in  1793,  Abraham  Guion  and 
David  Guion;  in  1802,  Lewis  Pintard  and  David  Coutant; 
in  181 1,  David  Coutant  and  Anthony  Bartow ;  in  1821,  An- 
thony Norroway  and  Herman  Le  Roy;   in  1830,  Newberry 


222  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

Davenport  and  Lloyd  S.  Daubeny ;  in  1842,  Peter  R.  Brinck- 
erhoff  and  Philip  A.  Davenport;  and  in  1852,  John  Soulice 
and  Richard  Lathers. 

CHRIST  CHURCH,  RYE* 

This  parish  originally  comprised  the  townships  of  Rye, 
Bedford,  and  Mamaroneck.  In  1702,  Rev.  John  Bartow  was 
licensed  by  the  Anglican  Bishop  Compton  to  officiate  as 
missionary  at  Rye.  He  was,  however,  transferred  to  West 
Chester,  and  Rev.  Thomas  Pritchow,  A.M.,  of  Welsh  descent, 
who  arrived  at  New  York,  in  April,  1704,  succeeded  him.  Col- 
onel Heathcote's  name  appears  as  correspondent  of  the  Ven. 
Soc.  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts.  The 
new  clergyman  was  heartily  welcomed.  He  married  Anna 
Stuyvesant,  granddaughter  of  Peter  Stuyvesant,  in  1704,  and 
died  in  1705.  He  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  George  Morrison,  a 
Scotchman,  who  was  ordained  by  Bishop  Compton,  of  Lon- 
don, and  reached  New  York  on  his  return  in  July,  1705. 

A  license  to  erect  an  "  English  "  church  in  Rye,  bears 
date  January  22,  1706.  Every  fourth  Sunday  Mr.  Morrison 
preached  at  Bedford,  he  writes,  adding,  "  and  I  am  afraid 
without  success  for  they  are  a  very  wilful,  stubborn  people  in 
that  town."  "  The  town  of  Rye  was  very  diligent  in  build- 
ing our  church.  It  is  of  stone,  50  foot  long,  and  36  foot  wide, 
and  20  foot  high."  He  did  vigorous  missionary  duty  in  all 
directions,  penetrating  as  far  as  Stratford,  Conn.,  on  a  baptiz- 
ing tour.  After  a  ministry  full  of  usefulness  he  died  Octo- 
ber 12,  1708.  Rev.  Mr.  Reynolds  was  licensed  and  appointed 
by  the  Bishop  of  London  to  take  up  the  work  in  Rye,  but 
he  had  scarcely  reached  his  new  home  when  his  commission 
was  revoked,  for  unknown  reasons,  and  Rev.  Christopher 
Bridge,  from  England,  superseded  him,  having  served  a  while 
in  Boston  and  Narragansett.  He  did  not  enter  upon  his 
work  until  October,  17 10.  At  his  induction  the  wardens 
were  Captain  Joseph  Theole,  Captain  Jonathan  Hart  and  Cor- 
nelius Seely.  The  missionary  died  in  May,  1719.  His  suc- 
cessor was  Rev.  Robert  Jenney,  displacing  for  some  unex- 
plained reason  Rev.  Henry  Barclay.     He  informs  the  Secre- 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  223 

tary  of  the  Venerable  Society  that,  since  his  admission  in  1722, 
he  has  baptized  60  persons,  and  that  the  number  of  communi- 
cants is  26.  The  vestry,  in  July,  1724,  issued  the  following 
order:  "Whereas,  several  of  ye  parish  have  talked  of  build- 
ing pews  in  ye  church,  ye  vestry  have  thought  fitt  to  order 
that  there  be  an  ile,  of  five  foot  from  ye  west  door  to  ye 
communion  table,  also,  an  ile  of  two  feet  from  ye  kneeling 
couch,  round  ye  rails  of  ye  communion  table,  also,  an  ile  of 
six  foot  from  ye  south  door  to  ye  desk,  also  that  there  be  a 
partition  ile  between  each  sett  of  pews  on  ye  south  side  of  ye 
church,  of  two  foot,  and  that  all  pews  be  built  to  front  ye 
desk."  In  1724  it  was  decided  by  a  majority  of  votes  that  "a 
drum  be  provided  for  ye  church  this  year."  Mr.  Jenney  died 
in  January,  1762,  after  a  ministry  of  more  than  nineteen  years 
at  Rye.  The  Venerable  Society  appointed  Rev.  Mr.  Colgan 
to  succeed,  but  Rev.  James  Wetmore  having  already  accepted 
the  invitation  of  the  church  at  Rye,  the  society  considered  it 
withdrawn.  After  a  fruitful  ministry  of  more  than  thirty 
years  in  the  parish,  he  died  of  small-pox,  May  15,  1760. 
Rev.  Ebenezer  Punderson,  after  clashing  with  a  Mr.  Palms, 
appointed  by  the  "Society,"  entered  upon  the  field  in  1762, 
having  previously,  after  his  conversion  from  Congregational- 
ism, rendered  excellent  service  in  Connecticut  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Venerable  Society.     He  died  in  1764. 

On  the  19th  of  December,  1764,  Grace  Church,  Rye,  re- 
ceived a  charter  from  King  George  III.  In  June,  1765, 
Rev.  Ephraim  Avery  was  appointed  to  the  vacant  parish. 
Dying  in  1776,  he  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Isaac  Hunt,  ordained 
by  the  Bishop  of  London.  He  died  in  1809.  Meanwhile, 
the  great  political  change  having  been  consummated,  Mr. 
Andrew  Fowler,  a  layman,  read  prayers  and  sermons  on  Sun- 
days, for  six  months  at  the  close  of  the  war.  The  parish 
was  reorganized  and  September  5,  1787,  Rev.  Richard 
Channing  Moore  was  elected  rector.  During  this  rectorship 
the  second  church  was  erected,  displacing  the  old  stone  build- 
ing. Raised  to  the  Bishopric  of  the  Diocese  of  Virginia  in 
1814,  he  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  David  Foote,  and  upon  his 
decease,  Rev.  John  Jackson  Sands  was  elected  rector  in  1793. 


224  CENTENNIAL  CHURCH   HISTORY. 

In  1796,  Rev.  George  Ogilvie  became  rector  ;  in  1797,  Rev. 
Samuel  Haskell;  in  1801,  Rev.  Evan  Rogers,  who  died  in 
1809.  In  June,  1809,  Rev.  Samuel  Haskell  again  became 
rector,  and  was  followed  by  Rev.  William  Thompson  in 
1823.  His  successor  was  Rev.  John  Murray  Forbes,  in  1830; 
in  1832,  Rev.  W.  M.  Carmichael;  in  1834,  Rev.  Peter  S. 
Chauncy ;  in  1849,  ^-ev-  Edward  C.  Bull;  in  1859,  R-ev-  John 
Campbell  White;  a  vacancy  in  1864;  in  1865,  Rev.  Reese 
Alsop ;  in  1873,  Rev.  Chauncey  B.  Brewster;  and  in  1882, 
Rev.  Walter  Mitchell,  who  resigned  at  Easter,  1886. 

The  corporate  name  appears  to  have  been  changed  after  the 
reorganization  at  the  close  of  the  war.  The  wardens  in 
1695  were  George  Lane  and  John  Brondig  ;  in  1710,  Joseph 
Theole  and  Jonathan  Hart;  in  1720,  John  Haight  and  Isaac 
Denham  ;  in  1730,  Daniel  Purdy  and  John  Glover;  in  1740, 
Daniel  Purdy  and  John  Thomas;  in  1750,  Jeremiah  Fowler 
and  Joseph  Sherwood  ;  in  1760,  William  Willett  and  Jonathan 
Brown;  in  1770,  Joshua  Purdy  and  Benjamin  Griffen  ;  in 
1780,  Peter  Jay  and  Isaac  Purdy;  in  1790,  the  same;  in  1800, 
John  Haight  and  Isaac  Purdy;  in  1810,  John  Guion  and 
Jonathan  Purdy;  in  1820,  the  same;  in  1830,  David  and 
Hackaliah  Brown  ;  in  1841,  Peter  Jay  and  Hackaliah  Brown, 
and  in  1852,  John  C.  Jay  and  John  A.  Dix. 

ST.  PAUL'S  CHURCH,  EAST  -CHESTER* 

No  report  having  been  received,  the  following  particulars 
are  gathered  from  Bolton's  History,  and  the  Convention 
Journals.  This  parish  was  organized  under  the  statute  of 
the  State,  March  12,  1787.  It  had  been  the  field  of  mission 
labor  since  1700.  Among  the  missionaries  were  Rev.  Thomas 
Standard,  who  died  in  1760,  Rev.  John  Milne,  and  Rev. 
Samuel  Seabury,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Connecticut.  He  writes 
to  the  Secretary  of  the  Venerable  Society,  December  3,  1767, 
in  the  second  year  of  his  pastorate,  as  follows :  "  At  East 
Chester,  which  is  four  miles  distant,  the  congregation  is  gen- 
erally larger  than  at  Westchester.  The  old  church  in  which 
they  meet,  as  yet,  is  very  cold.  They  have  erected  and  just 
completed  the  roof  of   a  large,  well-built  stone  church,  on 


PARISH   HISTORIES. 


225 


which  they  have  expended,  they  say,  £700  currency;  but 
their  ability  seems  exhausted  and  I  fear  I  shall  never  see  it 
finished.  I  applied  last  winter  to  His  Excellency,  Sir  Henry 
Moore,  for  a  brief  in  their  favor,  but  the  petition  was  rejected." 
The  rectors  have  been,  1702,  Rev.  John  Bartow  ;  1727,  Rev. 
Thomas  Standard;  1761,  Rev.  John  Milner ;  1766,  Rev. 
Samuel  Seabury ;  1799,  Rev.  Isaac  Wilkins;  1817,  Rev. 
Ravaud  Kearney;  1826,  Rev.  Lawson  Carter;  1836,  Rev. 
John  Grigg;  1837,  Rev.  Robert  Bolton;  1846,  Rev.  Edwin 
Harwood  ;  1847,  Rev.  Henry  E.  Duncan,  and  in  1852,  Rev. 
William  S.  Coffey,  present  incumbent.  In  1728,  there  were 
30  communicants  ;  in  1817,  48  ;  in  1847,  35  I  m  1853,  46,  and 
in  1885,  76.  The  present  wardens  are  A.  H.  Dunscombe  and 
Stephen  P.  Hunt. 

The  original  church  remains  in  use.  It  suffered  desecration 
during  the  Revolution,  was  turned  into  a  court-house,  bar- 
racks, and  hospital ;  was  stripped  and  pillaged  of  every  ves- 
tige of  wood,  but  has  been  generously  and  thoughtfully  re- 
stored and  is  among  the  most  interesting  edifices  of  the 
colonial  period. 

TRINITY  CHURCH,  FISHKILL. 

This  parish  was  incorporated  first  under  royal  charter, 
and  subsequently,  October  13,  1785.  The  church  edifice 
was  built  and  opened  in  September,  1767.  On  account  of 
the  destruction  and  loss  of  the  earlier  records  it  is  impossible 
to  present  any  complete  statistics  of  clerical  acts  in  the 
parish. 

At  present  there  are  about  50  communicants.  There  has 
been  unusual  difficulty  in  collecting  the  statistics  of  this 
parish,  as  the  rector  is  absent  and  an  invalid.  Mr.  S.  M. 
Davidson,  clerk  of  Trinity  parish,  has  provided  the  substance 
of  this  communication. 

Trinity  Church,  Fishkill,  is  one  of  the  oldest  church  edi- 
fices in  the  State  of  New  York.  It  was  the  third  church 
organized  in  the  town  of  Fishkill,  and  the  first  of  its  denomi- 
nation in  Dutchess  County,  or  anywhere  above  the  Highlands 
on  the  east  side  of  the  Hudson.  As  originally  built,  it  had  a 
15 


226  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

tall,  tapering  spire,  surmounted  by  a  ball  and  vane,  as  was 
usual  a  century  ago.  The  early  records  are  lost,  but  from 
the  best  evidence  obtainable  it  is  believed  that  the  church 
was  built  about  1760. 

The  first  service  was  held  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Seabury,  in 
1756.  The  first  rector  was  Rev.  John  Beardsley,  who  was 
appointed  by  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel, 
and  accepted  the  charge  October  26,  1767.  This  church  was 
connected  with  Christ  Church  in  Poughkeepsie  for  nearly  fifty 
years.  Rev.  Mr.  Beardsley  was  removed  to  New  York  De- 
cember 16,  1777,  by  order  of  the  Council  of  Safety.  It  ap- 
pears the  church  was  then  without  a  pastor  over  nine  years, 
during  part  of  which  time  it  was  used  both  by  the  military 
and  civil  authorities  as  a  hospital  for  the  sick  and  wounded, 
and  a  meeting  place  for  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  this 
State. 

The  next  rector  was  Rev.  Henry  Van  Dyck,  who  accepted 
the  rectorship  January  22,  1787.  He  remained  until  the 
spring  of  1791,  and  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  George  H.  Spieren, 
November  12,  1792.  He  in  turn  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  John 
J.  Sayers,  January  5,  1795.  Mr.  Sayers  continued  in  the 
rectorship  two  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Philander 
Chase,  afterward  Bishop  of  Ohio  and  also  of  Illinois.  Bishop 
Chase  was  the  founder  of  Kenyon  College,  at  Gambier,  Ohio, 
and  Jubilee  College,  at  Robin's  Nest,  Illinois.  Mr.  Chase 
left  here  in  1805,  and  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Barzillai  Bulkley, 
August  6,  1806. 

Mr.  Bulkley  was  succeeded  in  1812  by  Rev.  John  Brown, 
who  was  followed  in  1816  by  Rev.  Mr.  Ten  Broeck.  He  re- 
mained a  short  time,  and  left,  when  the  church  had  no  set- 
tled minister  for  a  number  of  years,  being  supplied  through 
missionary  sources  until  1833,  when  Rev.  R.  B.  Van  Kleeck, 
D.D.,  was  duly  installed  as  rector.  He  was  succeeded  in  1837 
by  Rev.  Colly  A.  Foster,  who  was  followed  in  1838  by  Rev. 
Richard  F.  Burnham.  Rev.  Robert  Shaw  succeeded  Mr. 
Burnham  in  1 841,  and  was  succeeded  in  1844  by  Rev.  Wm. 
H.  Hart.  Mr.  Hart  remained  about  three  years,  and  was  fol- 
lowed by  Rev.  Christian  F.  Cruse,  D.D.,  in   1847.     Rev-  F- 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  227 

W.  Shelton  succeeded  Dr.  Cruse  in  1853,  and  was  followed  by 
Rev.  John  R.  Livingston  in  1855.  Mr.  Livingston  served  the 
church  long  and  faithfully,  and,  dying  in  the  harness,  was 
succeeded  in  the  ministry,  in  1879,  by  Rev«  J-  H.  Hobart, 
D.D.,  the  present  incumbent. 

The  wardens  in  1785  were  Jeremiah  Cooper  and  Jeremiah 
Green  ;  in  1790,  Jacob  Van  Voorhis  and  Robt.  Mills;  in  1800, 
Daniel  C.  Verplanck  and  Peter  Mesier  ;  in  1810,  Matthew 
Mesier  and  Daniel  C.  Verplanck;  in  1820  and  1830,  the 
same;  in  1840,  William  A.  Bartow  and  Greenleaf  Street;  in 
1850,  Gulian  C.  Verplanck  and  Greenleaf  Street  ;  in  i860, 
Gulian  C.  Verplanck  and  William  A.  Bartow;  in  1870,  Wil- 
liam S.  Verplanck  and  Isaac  E.  Cotheal  ;  in  1880,  Isaac  E. 
Cotheal  and  Adriance  Bartow  ;  and  in  1886,  William  S.  Ver- 
planck and  Adriance  Bartow. 

The  church  book  comprises  minutes  of  each  vestry  from 
1785,  and,  like  all  old  records,  contains  many  curious  entries: 

"  At  a  meeting  of  the  Trustees  of  Trinity  Church  at  Fish- 
kill,  on  the  nth  day  of  August,  1788,  present,  John  Cook, 
Peter  Mesier,  Jeremiah  Cooper,  James  Cooper,  and  Elbert 
Willett,  Jr.,  the  following  resolution  was  entered  into,  to 
wit: 

"  Resolved  by  the  vestry,  all  voting,  that  the  damages  this 
church  received  by  the  publick  was  duly  appraised  by  James 
Weekes,  Isaac  Van  Wyck,  and  Capt.  Cor's  Adriance. 

From  the  year  1776  to  1783: 

The  use  of  the  church ^140     o     o 

"  "  "    yard 20     o     o 

Damages  to  the  same  by  the  publick 189     411 


£349     4  11 


"This  statement  given  to  John  Cook,  to  be  Liquidated 
by  the  Publick. 

"  Resolved — The  compensation  so  obtained  shall  be  ap- 
plyed  in  finishing  and  repairing  the  church  so  far  as  it  will 
go,  and  for  no  other  purpose  whatever." 

By  a  resolution  passed    in    1789  it  was  ordered  that  the 


228  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

church  should  receive  two  shillings  from  the  parents  for  every 
child  baptized. 

In  1803  money  was  raised  to  repair  the  steeple,  but  if  the 
work  was  done  it  does  not  appear  to  have  been  effectual,  for 
in  a  few  years  after  complaints  were  made  that  the  spire  was 
unsafe,  and  in  1817  k  was  removed.  The  base  was  left  stand- 
ing, and  from  that  time  to  about  i860  the  church  had  a  short 
tower  with  an  ornamental  balustrade.  Then  the  building 
was  repaired  and  this  tower  removed.  Some  years  later  the 
interior  was  consideraby  changed  also.  The  high  pews  were 
removed,  and  more  comfortable  ones  substituted,  and  the 
tall  pulpit,  with  its  antiquated  sounding  board,  which  stood 
near  the  center  of  the  church,  was  dispensed  with. 

In  the  burying  ground  which  surrounds  the  church  on  all 
sides  except  the  front  a  great  many  of  the  early  residents  lie 
buried.  Forty  or  fifty  years  ago,  when  interments  were  fre- 
quent in  this  ground,  it  was  no  unusual  thing  to  dig  up 
pieces  of  blankets,  which  had  probably  been  wrapped  around 
the  remains  of  those  who  died  in  this  edifice  when  it  was 
used  as  a  hospital. 

In  September,  1865,  the  church  celebrated  its  Centennial, 
when  interesting  services  were  held  and  an  address  was  de- 
livered by  Rev.  Dr.  Brown,  who  more  than  fifty  years  before 
had  been  its  rector. 

Mr.  Gulian  C.  Verplanck  was  a  warden  of  this  parish  for 
more  than  thirty  years.  He  was  long  identified  with  that 
early  period  of  our  literature,  not  unmeaningly  described  as 
the  Hudson  River  School;  among  whom  Washington  Irving, 
James  K.  Paulding,  and  James  Fenimore  Cooper,  all  Church- 
men, moved  with  great  and  permanent  distinction.  Mr.  Ver- 
planck was  eminent  for  the  solidity  and  elegance  of  his  at- 
tainments. His  edition  of  Shakespeare  holds  its  place  in  the 
collections  of  scholars,  and  there  are  other  abiding  evidences 
of  his  accurate  and  recondite  researches  in  belles-lettres  and 
various  departments  of  scholarship.  He  was  also  for  awhile 
a  lecturer  or  professor  in  the  early  years  of  the  General  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  in  New  York  City. 


PARISH    HISTORIES.  229 

ST.  MATTHEW'S   CHURCH,  BEDFORD. 

This  church — formerly  in  the  parish  of  Christ  Church, 
Rye,  formed  in  1694  under  royal  charter — was  organized  in 
1789  and  reorganized  in  1796.  The  first  church  was  built  in 
Northcastle,  1761,  and  another  in  Bedford,  1807.  The  rec- 
tors have  been:  Rev.  William  Strebeck,  1804,  who  officiated 
six  months;  Rev.  Nathan  Felch,  1809-1813;  Rev.  George 
Weller,  1814-1817;  Rev.  Samuel  Nichols,  1818-1839;  Rev. 
Alfred  H.  Partridge,  1839-1855  ;  Rev.  Edward  B.  Boggs, 
1855-1866,  and  Rev.  Lea  Luqueer,  1866,  the  present  incum- 
bent. 

The  glebe  of  forty  acres  and  house  was  bought  in  1803. 
This  house  became  the  rectory  and  has  been  repeatedly  en- 
larged. The  number  of  baptisms  recorded  is  498,  and  232 
have  received  confirmation.  There  is  no  list  of  communi- 
cants before  1855.  ^n  tnat  year  there  were  about  52  ;  in  1865, 
about  70;  in  1875,  75,  and  the  present  number  is  94. 

The  wardens  in  1796  were  :  Charles  Haight  and  William 
Miller;  in  1806,  William  Miller  and  James  McDonald;  in 
1816,  Benjamin  Isaacs  and  Aaron  Smith;  in  1826,  the  same; 
in  1836,  Aaron  Smith  and  Samuel  Brown  ;  in  1846,  Samuel 
Brown  and  William  Jay;  in  1856,  William  Jay  and  Charles 
Raymond;  in  1866,  Charles  Raymond  and  John  I.  Banks;  in 
1876,  John  Jay  and  William  P.  Woodcock,  and  in  1886,  the 
same. 

The  glebe  in  Bedford  was  bought  in  1803  with  the  money 
bequeathed  to  the  church  by  St.  George  Talbot  in  1767.  In 
1807  the  church  known  as  St.  Matthew's  was  completed 
under  the  direction  of  William  Miller,  David  Olmstead,  and 
Peter  A.  Jay.  As  there  was  difficulty  in  defraying  the  ex- 
penses that  had  been  incurred,  application  was  made  to 
Trinity  Church,  New  York.  The  appeal  was  courteously 
answered  by  a  gift  of  $500. 

ST.  JOHN'S,  YONKERS.* 

This  parish  was  organized  September  15,  1787,  and  the 
church  edifice  was  built  in  1753,  repaired  and  consecrated  in 


230  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

1792;  repaired  again  in  1804,  enlarged  in  1849,  an<^  again  en- 
larged to  its  present  dimensions  in  1872. 

The  rectors  have  been  :  Rev.  Andrew  Fowler,  1786;  Rev. 
Elias  Cooper,  in  1788;  Rev.  William  Powell,  1816-1819;  Rev. 
John  Gregg,  1820-1823;  Rev.  John  West,  1823-1828;  Rev. 
Alex.  H.  Crosby,  1828-1839;  Rev.  Smith  Pyne,  1 839-1 841  ; 
Rev.  Henry  L.  Storrs,  1841-1852;  Rev.  Abr.  Beach  Carter, 
D.D.,  1852-1868;  Rev.  Thos.  A.  Jagger,  1869-1870;  Rev.  W. 
S.  Langford,  1 870-1875  ;Rev.  A.  B.  Atkins,  D.D.,  1875-1879; 
and  Rev.  James  Haughton,  since  1879,  an<^  present  incumbent. 

The  first  rectory  was  procured  in  1766,  and  the  present 
one  in  1845.  During  the  ministry  of  Dr.  Carter  a  chapel  was 
erected,  in  1859. 

Since  1820  there  is  record  of  2,476  baptisms;  and,  since 
1829,  confirmation  has  been  administered  to  1,008  persons. 
In  1806  there  were  40  communicants;  in  1816,  56;  in  1827, 
75;  in  1837,77;  in  1844,94;  in  1856,250;  in  1865,350;  in 
1875,  350;  and  the  present  number  is  about  500. 

The  parish  records  previous  to   1820  are  not  in  existence. 

The  wardens  in  1795  were:  Augustus  Van  Cortlandt  and 
William  Constable;  in  1805,  Augustus  Van  Cortlandt  and 
James  Valentine ;  in  1815,  Henry  White  and  James  Archer; 
in  1825,  Joseph  Howland  and  Elijah  Valentine;  in  1835, 
Augustus  Van  Cortlandt  and  Joseph  Odell ;  in  1845,  Abra- 
ham Valentine  and  John  Bowne  ;  in  1855,  Abraham  Valentine 
and  Thomas  O.  Farrington ;  in  1865,  Thomas  O.  Farrington 
and  John  Gihon ;  in  1875,  Henry  Bowers  and  John  T.  War- 
ing; and  in  1885,  Sylvanus  Mayo  and  Walter  H.  Paddock. 

Rev.  John  Bartow  commenced  services  in  this  precinct  in 
1703.  He  wrote,  in  1717:  "  Yonkers  has  no  Church,  but  we 
assemble  for  Divine  Worship  sometimes  in  the  house  of  Jo- 
seph Bebts,  deceased,  and  sometimes  in  a  barn  when  empty, 
but  the  people  begin  to  be  in  a  disposition  to  build  a  Church." 

During  the  incumbency  of  his  successor,  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Standard,  inducted  1725,  the  parish  church  was  built.  The 
next  rector,  Rev.  John  Milne,  informed  the  Propagation  So- 
ciety, in  1761,  that  "  one  of  his  Churches  is  a  new  edifice 
raised  by  the  generosity  of  Col.  Frederick  Philipse  who  has 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  23 1 

given  to  its  service  a  fine  farm  as  a  glebe,  consisting  of  200 
acres,  upon  which  he  proposes  to  build  a  good  house  for  a 
minister." 

The  Rev.  Harry  Munro  became,  in  1764,  the  first  rector 
of  Yonkers  or  Philipseborough.  He  was  succeeded,  in  1771, 
by  Rev.  Luke  Babcock,  and  he  again,  in  1777,  by  Rev.  George 
Panton.  During  the  Revolutionary  War  the  church  was  used 
at  intervals  by  both  armies  as  a  hospital,  and  its  pulpit  by 
ministers  of  different  denominations,  who  made  strong  efforts 
to  retain  possession.  The  roof  and  woodwork  of  the  original 
structure  were  destroyed  by  fire  in  May,  1791.  The  instru- 
ment of  consecration  in  1792,  signed  by  Bishop  Provoost,  is 
now  in  the  possession  of  the  parish. 

ST.  PETER'S   CHURCH,  WESTCHESTER. 

This  parish  was  organized  by  royal  charter  granted  by 
George  III.,  King  of  Great  Britain,  May  12,  1762.  The 
first  church  was  erected  in  1701,  the  second  was  begun  in 
1855.  This  building  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1877  and  re- 
built and  consecrated  in  1879.  The  succession  of  rectors 
since  1726  was:  Rev.  John  Bartow,  1726  ;  Rev.  Theodosius 
Barton,  1792-1794;  Rev.  John  Ireland,  1794-1797;  Rev.  Isaac 
Wilkins,  D.D.,  1798-1830;  Rev.  William  Powell,  1830-1849; 
Rev.  Charles  D.  Jackson,  1849-1871  ;  Rev.  Christopher  B. 
Wyatt,  D.D.,  1871-1879,  and  since  1881  the  present  incum- 
bent, Rev.  Joseph  H.  Johnson.  A  rectory  was  procured 
about  1850.  St.  Peter's  chapel  was  erected  in  1867,  during 
the  rectorship  of  Rev.  Dr.  Jackson.  The  parish  records  of 
this  venerable  corporation  are  so  lost  or  perished,  that  no  sta- 
tistics can  be  given  of  the  baptisms,  confirmations,  or  com- 
municants.    The  present  number  is  230. 

The  only  names  of  wardens  reported  are  Caleb  Heathcote 
and  Josiah  Hunt,  in  1701. 

The  first  church  edifice  was  built  in  1701  of  wood,  twenty- 
eight  feet  square,  with  a  pyramidal  roof  with  a  bell  turret  ris- 
ing from  the  apex.     The  cost  was  £40. 

This  church  was  sold  in  1788,  and  in  1790  another  build- 
ing was  erected  at  a  cost  of  £336.     It  was  destroyed  by  fire 


232  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

in  1855.  A  new  church  was  begun  in  1855  at  an  outlay  of 
$60,000.  It  was  built  of  sandstone  with  a  tower  which  con- 
tained three  keyed  bells,  D,  B,  and  G,  weighing  respectively, 
754,  908,  and  1,222  pounds.  And  this  was  in  turn  destroyed 
by  fire  on  the  evening  of  January  22,  1877.  The  present 
church  was  afterwards  erected  and  consecrated  July  12, 
1879.  Among  the  early  rectors,  and  following  Mr.  Bartow, 
was  Rev.  Samuel  Seabury,  who  afterwards  became  the  first 
Bishop  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of  the  United 
States.  The  communion  service  consists  of  a  chalice  and 
paten,  and  was  presented  to  the  parish  by  Queen  Anne,  1706. 

ST.  PETER'S  CHURCH,  PEEKSKILL.* 

This  parish  was  organized  under  a  royal  charter  of  George 
III.,  which  was  received  August   10,  1770.     The  parish  was 
received  into  union  with  the  Convention  in  1791.    This  parish 
is  closely  associated  with  the  history  of  the  Van  Cortlandt 
family  and  Cortlandt  manor.     The  Rev.  James  Watrous,  of 
Rye,  held  services  here  as  early  as  1744,  and  in   1761   Rev. 
Wm.  Dibble  officiated.     As   early  as   1750,  the  people  had 
given  six  acres  of  land  for  the  foundation  of  a  parish.     The 
church,  which  is  still  in  existence,  was  begun  in   1766,  and 
consecrated   August   9,    1767,  by   Rev.  John    Ogilvie,  D.D. 
This  old  parochial  church  now   stands  on  the  summit  of  a 
high  knoll,  a  little  out  of  the  village.      The  chapel  of  St. 
Peter's,  which  was  built  in    1838  as  auxiliary  to  the  mother 
church,  is  a  handsome  Gothic  structure  of  wood,  standing 
near  the  center  of  the  village.     Among  the  principal  benefac- 
tors of  the  parish  were  Catharine  Van  Cortlandt,  Col.  Bev- 
erly Robinson,  and  Susannah  Philipse,  his  wife,  the  Venerable 
Propagation   Society,  Gen.  and  Col.  Pierre  Van   Cortlandt, 
Nicholas  Cruger,  Isaac    Seymour,  Col.  John    Williams,  and 
the  Corporation  of  Trinity  Church,  New  York. 

The  rectors  have  been,  in  1771,  Rev.  John  Doty;  in  1775, 
Rev.  Bernard  Page;  1792,  Rev.  Andrew  Fowler;  1794,  Rev. 
Samuel  Haskell;  1806,  Rev.  Joseph  Warren;  181 1,  Rev. 
John  Urquhart;  1817,  Rev.  Petrus  Ten  Broeck  ;  1826,  Rev. 
Edward  J.  Ives;   1832,  Rev.  James  Sunderland;   1838,  Rev. 


PARISH    HISTORIES.  233 

William  C.  Cooley;  1841,  Rev.  William  Barlow;  1848,  Rev. 
George  S.  Gordon;  1854,  Rev.  Edmund  Roberts;  after  a 
vacancy  of  one  or  two  years,  Rev.  John  Rutherford  Mat- 
thews ;  in  1865,  Rev.  E.  M.  Rodman  ;  in  1872,  Rev.  Francis 
R.  Harison  :  1874,  Rev.  Wm.  Fisher  Lewis  ;  in  1881,  Rev. 
N.  F.  Putnam;  in  1883,  Rev.  George  McClellan  Fiske  ;  and 
in  1885,  Rev.  Cyrus  B.  Durand. 

•  In  1807  there  were  50  communicants;  in  1847,  4° !  m 
1853,  50;  and  in  1883,  22&  The  reports  of  baptisms  and 
confirmations  are  without  value.  The  wardens  in  1770  were 
Beverly  Robinson  and  Charles  Moore;  in  1790,  William 
Dunning  and  Caleb  Ward;  in  1800,  Daniel  Wm.  Birdsall  and 
Daniel  Haight ;  in  1810,  Henry  Garrison  and  Daniel  Birdsall; 
1820,  Barnard  Hanlan  and  Henry  Garrison  ;  in  1830,  Pierre 
Van  Cortlandt  and  Henry  Garrison;  in  1840,  Pierre  Van 
Cortlandt  and  Jonathan  Collett;  1850,  Isaac  Seymour  and 
Thomas  Snowden ;  and  at  present,  Owen  T.  Coffin  and  Cal- 
vin Frost. 

ST.  JAMES'  CHURCH,  NORTH  SALEM.* 

This  parish,  which  is  identified  with  the  history  of  the 
DeLanceys,  is  among  the  most  interesting  of  the  colonial 
parishes.  It  was  organized  under  a  royal  charter,  George  III., 
and  received  into  union  with  the  Convention  1792.  The 
church  appears  to  have  been  erected  in  1766.  In  1797  this 
church  was  sold,  and  the  corner-stone  of  a  new  building  laid 
August  30,  1 8 10.  Towards  the  cost  of  this  church,  Trinity 
Church,  New  York,  contributed  $1,000.  It  was  consecrated 
by  Bishop  Hobart  in  1816.  In  1842  the  wardens  built  the 
rectory  and  barn.  Many  interesting  gifts  from  England  and 
the  DeLanceys  found  place  in  the  church.  The  rectors  have 
been,  in  1750,  Rev.  Ebenezer  Dibble  ;  in  1764,  Rev.  Richard 
S.  Clark;  in  1768,  Rev.  Epenetus  Townsend  ;  in  1790,  Rev. 
David  Perry,  M.D. ;  in  1804,  Rev.  George  Strebeck ;  in  1810, 
Rev.  Nathan  Felch ;  in  18 16,  Rev.  George  Wells;  in  1820, 
Rev.  Samuel  Nichols;  in  1829,  Rev.  Hiram  Jeliff;  in  1835, 
Rev.  Alexander  Fraser ;  in  1841,  Rev.  David  Short;  in  1842, 
Rev.  Albert  P.  Smith;  in  1847,  Rev-  Nathan  W.  Monroe  ;  in 


234  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

1848,  Rev.  Orsamus  H.  Smith  ;  and  in  185 1,  Rev.  John  Wells 
Moore;  vacancy  in  1855  and  until  1862,  when  Rev.  R.  Tre- 
vett,  D.D.,  was  rector;  vacancy  in  1865  ;  in  1872,  Rev.  R.  C. 
Russell,  who  was  rector  in  1883.  There  is  no  report  to  the 
Convention  accessible  since  that  date.  The  wardens  in  1765- 
85  were  John  Wallace  and  Ebenezer  Lobdell ;  in  1800,  James 
Bailey  and  Benjamin  Close;  in  1810,  Benjamin  Close  and 
Joshua  Purdy;  in  1820,  Eperetus  Wallace  and  Joshua  Purdy  ; 
in  1830,  Joshua  Purdy  and  Richard  Sherwood  ;  in  1840, 
Joshua  Purdy  and  Samuel  Field  ;  and  in  1850,  Samuel  Field 
and  John  Hanford.     No  additional  data  are  obtainable. 

ST.  MARK'S  IN  THE  BOWERY. 

This  parish  was  organized  New  York,  October  10, 
1799.  The  corner-stone  of  the  church  was  laid  April  25, 
1795,  and  consecrated  May  9,  1799.  The  rectors  have  been 
Rev.  John  Callahan,  elected  February  15,  1800,  and  died 
April  14th  of  that  year;  Rev.  Wm.  Harris,  1801-1816;  Rev. 
Wm.  Creighton,  1816-1836;  Rev.  Henry  Anthon,  1837-1861  ; 
Rev.  Alexander  H.  Vinton,  1861-1869;  and  Rev.  J.  H. 
Rylance,  D.D.,  since  March,  1871,  rector  and  present  incum- 
bent. A  rectory  was  built  in  1839.  St.  Mark's  memorial 
chapel  and  schools  was  erected  in  1884  on  Tompkins  Square 
and  Tenth  Street,  during  the  present  rectorship.  The  num- 
ber of  baptisms  recorded  is  2,268.  No  statistics  of  confirma- 
tions or  communicants  by  decades  are  presented.  The  pres- 
ent number  is  about  557.     The  wardens  in  1799  were  Francis 

B.  Winthrop  and  Peter  Stuyvesant ;  in  1809,  Mangle  Min- 
thorn  and  William  Ogden  ;  in  18 19,  the  same  ;  in  1829,  Nich- 
olas Fish  and  Edward  Lyde ;  in  1839,  Jolin  C-  Lawrence  and 
Gerardus  Clark;  in  1849,  Wheaton  Bradish  and  Michael 
Ulshoeffer  ;  in  1859,  the  same;  m  l8^9'  Hamilton  Fish  and 
Henry  B.  Renwick  ;  in  1879,  the  same;    and  in   1886,  Peter 

C.  Schuyler  and  William  Remsen. 

In  the  Bouwery,  or,  as  we  would  say  now,  upon  the  farm, 
Governor  Stuyvesant  built  a  chapel  wherein  his  family  and 
neighbors  might  worship  according  to  the  rites  of  the  Dutch 
Reformed  Church.     A  great  many  years  after,  the  chapel,  hav- 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  235 

ing  fallen  to  ruin,  was  pulled  down,  and  upon  the  same  spot 
was  erected  a  new  church :  St.  Mark's  Church  in  the  Bowery. 

When  the  chapel  referred  to  was  built  is  not  known,  but 
it  was  in  use  in  1660,  for  in  that  year  the  Rev.  Henry  Selyns 
arrived  from  Holland  to  take  charge  of  the  church  in  Breuk- 
elen  (Brooklyn),  and  Governor  Stuyvesant  made  arrangements 
which  secured  part  of  his  services  for  the  chapel  in  the  Bow- 
ery. The  chapel  seems  to  have  been  without  a  regular  pas- 
tor after  that,  but  it  was  doubtless  cared  for  during  the 
life  of  the  governor  by  the  clergy  of  the  Dutch  Reformed 
Church  of  New  Amsterdam.  Governor  Stuyvesant  died  in 
1682,  and  was  buried  beneath  the  chapel  in  a  vault,  which  was 
repaired  and  enlarged  at  the  building  of  the  present  church, 
and  has  continued  to  this  time  to  be  the  sepulchre  of  the 
Stuyvesant  family.  His  widow,  who  died  in  1687,  left  the 
chapel  in  charge  of  the  Dutch  Church  in  New  York;  but  it 
appears  to  have  fallen  into  disuse,  and  the  bequest  went  by 
default. 

More  than  a  century  later  Mr.  Petrus  Stuyvesant,  the 
Governor's  great  grandson,  who  was  a  member  of  the  corpora- 
tion of  Trinity  Church,  offered  to  the  vestry  of  that  church  the 
site  of  the  chapel,  150X  190  feet,  and  £800  toward  the  build- 
ing of  a  Protestant  Episcopal  church  upon  the  same  spot. 
The  offer  was  accepted,  and  a  committee,  consisting  of  Messrs. 
Stuyvesant,  Hugh  Gaine,  and  John  Jones,  was  appointed  to 
ascertain  what  aid  could  be  secured  for  building  the  church. 
On  January  19,  1795,  the  vestry  took  definite  steps  to  raise 
.£5,000  for  the  purpose,  and  Messrs.  Stuyvesant,  Carmer, 
Gaine  and  Van  Horn  were  appointed  to  superintend  the  con- 
struction. The  church  was  finished  on  May  9,  1799,  and  con- 
secrated on  the  same  day  by  the  bishop  of  the  diocese,  the 
Rt.  Rev.  Samuel  Provoost. 

On  the  27th  of  August  following,  the  vestry  of  Trinity 
Church  appointed  Messrs.  Petrus  Stuyvesant,  Francis  Bayard 
Winthrop,  Gilbert  Colden  Willett,  Mangle  Minthorne,  Martin 
Hoffman,  William  A.  Hardenbrook,  and  George  Rapelye 
trustees,  and  conveyed  to  them  for  the  corporation  of  the 
new  parish,  whenever  it  should  be  formed,  the  church  and 


236  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

surrounding  land.  On  the  18th  of  October  it  was  decided 
that  the  church  should  be  known  in  law  as  The  PROTESTANT 
Episcopal  Church  of  St.  Mark's  in  the  Bowery  in  the 
City  of  New  York.  The  first  election  of  wardens  and  ves- 
trymen was  also  held,  and  Easter  Tuesday  fixed  as  the  day 
for  holding  subsequent  annual  elections.  The  wardens  elected 
were  Petrus  Stuyvesant,  Francis  B.  Winthrop  ;  vestrymen, 
Gilbert  C.  Willett,  Martin  Hoffman,  Win,  A.  Hardenbrook, 
Mangle  Minthorne,  Wm.  Ogden,  George  Turnbull,  Nicholas 
W.  Stuyvesant,  James  Cummings.  At  the  first  meeting  of 
the  vestry  on  November  5th,  Peter  G.  Stuyvesant  was  elected 
clerk  of  the  vestry,  and  Martin  Hoffman  treasurer,  but  the 
latter  declined  to  act,  and  Mr.  Hardenbrook  was  appointed. 

It  appears  that,  owing  to  the  small  amount  of  money  ob- 
tained for  pew  rent,  the  vestry  was  forced  to  apply  to  Trinity 
Church  for  aid.  At  this  time,  it  is  recorded,  pew  rent  in  St. 
Paul's  and  St.  George's  was  only  five  dollars  a  year.  Thirty- 
five  years  later,  May,  1837,  thirty-one  pews  were  sold  for 
$I3»735*  Trinity  responded  by  making  a  grant  of  thirty  lots 
of  city  property,  then  yielding  an  annual  revenue  of  $1,250. 
Attached  to  a  legal  opinion  connected  with  this  grant  appears 
the  signature  of  one  of  America's  greatest  statesmen,  Alexan- 
der Hamilton. 

Up  to  October,  1802,  it  seems  that  the  church  was  with- 
out a  parsonage,  for  the  records  show  that  on  the  27th  of 
that  month  Mr.  Petrus  Stuyvesant,  whose  generosity  had 
been  the  means  of  founding  the  church  itself,  conveyed 
"  certain  lots  in  Eleventh  Street  as  a  site  for  a  parsonage," 
and  by  December  6th  $1,900  had  been  subscribed  towards 
building  it.  The  parsonage  built  upon  these  lots  continued 
to  be  the  rector's  home  until  October,  1840,  when  "  St. 
Mark's  Rectory,"  corner  of  Tenth  Street  and  Second  Avenue, 
was  finished.  In  1836  a  move  was  made  to  sell  the  old  par- 
sonage, or  exchange  it  for  other  premises  closer  to  the  church, 
but  it  was  found  that  by  the  terms  of  the  deed  either  recourse 
was  impossible.  In  1839  tne  erection  of  the  rectory  was  be- 
gun, and  on  its  completion  the  vestry  voted  $1,500  for  the 
purchase  of  furniture. 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  237 

In  August,  1803,  less  than  a  year  after  the  foregoing  dona- 
tion, Mr.  Stuyvesant  gave  the  church  a  lot,  242  x  190  feet, 
for  a  cemetery.  This  lot  still  forms  a  part  of  the  burial-place 
of  the  church.  On  Jul}'  20,  1804,  the  vestry  appropriated 
pew  No.  9  for  the  use  of  Mr.  Stuyvesant  and  his  family,  rent 
free,  for  ever.  Another  notable  gift  of  the  Stuyvesant  family 
requires  mention.  In  1835  Mr.  Peter  G.  Stuyvesant,  by  a 
gift  of  $25,000,  founded  the  "St.  Mark's  Church  in  the 
Bowery  Professorship  "  in  the  General  Theological  Seminary 
of  this  city. 

The  first  communion  service  was  purchased  in  1805  with 
a  gift  of  $83.34  from  Mr.  Ten  Eyck  and  $20  from  Mr.  Har- 
denbrook.  Those  who  view  the  fine  steeple  of  St.  Mark's, 
and  are  accustomed  to  see  churches  and  steeples  built  to- 
gether in  the  present  day,  will  learn  with  a  feeling  akin  to 
incredulity  that  it  was  not  built  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century  after  the  church.  In  1826  the  vestry  resolved  to 
erect  a  steeple  of  stone  or  brick,  provided  the  expense  did  not 
exceed  $5,000. 

CHRIST  CHURCH,  NEW  YORK. 

In  the  year  1793,  William  Post  and  one  hundred  and 
seventy-two  other  members  of  Trinity  Parish  presented  a 
petition  to  the  vestry  that  the  Rev.  Joseph  Pilmore  might  be 
called  as  an  assistant  minister,  and  a  Sunday  evening  lecture 
established.  This  petition  having  been  refused,  the  petition- 
ers proceeded  in  the  same  year  to  organize  a  new  parish, 
under  the  name  of  Christ  Church,  and  to  call  the  Rev.  Joseph 
Pilmore  as  its  rector.  Owing,  however,  to  some  misunder- 
standing between  the  officers  of  the  parish  and  the  ecclesias- 
tical authority  of  the  diocese,  the  parish  was  not  admitted 
into  union  with  the  Convention  until  1802. 

Christ  Church  erected  its  first  house  of  worship  on  the 
north  side  of  Ann  Street,  between  William  and  Nassau,  in 
1793  ;  its  second,  on  Anthony  (now  Worth)  Street,  a  few 
doors  west  of  Broadway,  in  1822;  its  third  (now  occupied  by 
St.  Ann's  Church  for  deaf  mutes),  on  Eighteenth  Street,  in 
1854.     The  building  which  the  parish  now  occupies,  on  the 


238  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

corner  of  Fifth  Avenue  and  Thirty-fifth  Street,  was  acquired 
from  the  Baptists,  in  exchange  for  its  property  on  Eighteenth 
Street. 

Rectors  of  Christ  Church:  Rev.  Joseph  Pilmore,  D.D., 
1 793-1804;  Rev.  Thomas  Lyell,  D.D.,  1804-1848;  Rev. 
Charles  Halsey,  October,  1848,  to  May,  1855  ;  Rev-  Frederick 
S.Wiley,  1855-1862;  Rev.  Ferdinand  C.  Ewer,  D.D.,  Novem- 
ber, 1862,  to  November,  1871  ;  Rev.  Hugh  Miller  Thompson, 
D.D.,  January,  1872,  to  November,  1875  ;  Rev.  William  A. 
McVickar,  D.D.,  December,  1876.  to  September,  1877;  Rev. 
J.  S.  Shipman,  D.D.,  November,  1877. 

Names  of  wardens  by  decades:  1794,  William  Newton 
and  Jeremiah  Wood;  1804,  Andrew  R.  Miller  and  David 
Marsh  ;  1814,  George  Dominick  and  Andrew  R.  Miller;  1824, 
Israel  Horsfield  and  Wm.  Weyman  ;  1834,  Edward  Hitchcock 
and  Henry  Fanning;  1844,  William  T.  Beach  and  Ralph  I. 
Bush;  1854,  F.  J.  Austin  and  Gardner  Ambler;  1864,  S.  K. 
Greene  and  Edward  Stone;  1874,  George  W.  Cass  and 
Edward  A.  Quintard  ;  1884,  George  W.  Cass  and  Samuel 
Keyser. 

Number  of  baptisms  since  the  organization  of  the  parish, 
3,618.  Of  persons  confirmed  and  of  communicants  there  are 
none  but  recent  records.  Present  number  of  communicants, 
about  350. 

ST.  JAMES'  CHURCH,  GOSHEN, 
Was  organized  June  25,  1803;  the  first  church  built  about 
1804,  and  the  present  edifice  in  1852. 

The  succession  of  rectors  is  as  follows:  Rev.  Frederick  Van 
Home,  1799-1805;  Rev.  Cave  Jones,  1S05-1808;  Rev.  Wil- 
liam Powell,  1812-1814;  Rev.  Evan  M.  Johnson,  1814-1817; 
Rev.  R.  F.  Cadle,  1817-1820;  Rev.  J.  P.  Cotter,  1820-1823 
(deposed);  Rev.  Reuben  Hubbard,  1823-1828;  Rev.  Nathan 
Kingsbury,  1831-1832;  Rev.  J.  P.  F.  Clarke,  1834-1837;  Rev. 
Thomas  Mallaby,  1 837-1 840;  Rev.  J.  A.  Spencer,  1 841-1842; 
Rev.  W.  P.  Page,  1842-1847;  Rev.  J.  T.  Cushing,  1848-1854; 
Rev.  S.  C.  Thrall,  1855-1856;  Rev.  J.  J.  Robertson,  D.D., 
officiating   minister,   1856-1858;    Rev.  Albert   Wood,   1858- 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  239 

1862;  Rev.  George  C.  Pennell,  1 862-1 863  ;  Rev.  Edmund 
Rowland,  1864-1868;  Rev.  W.  H.  de  L.  Grannis,  1869-1881  ; 
since  1881,  Rev.  Mytton  Maury,  the  present  incumbent. 

A  rectory  was  purchased  in  1865,  and  a  chapel  built  in 
1869,  during  the  ministry  of  Rev.  Edmund  Rowland.  Since 
organization,  about  835  have  received  Holy  Baptism,  and  495 
confirmed.  The  parish  records  are  incomplete,  but  it  appears 
that  in  1812  there  were  6  communicants;  in  1822,  27;  in 
1831,13;  in  1841,  40;  in  1856,  90;  in  1862,  88.  The  present 
number  is  about  120. 

For  the  successive  decades  (in  part)  the  wardens  have 
been:  1832,  Henry  Wisner  and  George  D.  Wickham  ;  1840, 
the  same  ;  1850,  Th.  Thorne  and  C.  F.  Jackson  ;  i860,  C.  F. 
Jackson  and  John  J.  Smith  ;  1869,  the  same  ;  1880,  J.  J.  Smith 
and  George  C.  Miller. 

It  appears  from  the  records,  that  "At  Decker's  Corner 
near  Goshen  there  was  an  Episcopal  Church  before  the  Revo- 
lution." St.  James',  Goshen,  seems  to  have  been  the  parent 
of  the  church  at  Middletown.  Rev.  W.  P.  Page,  in  1843,  re_ 
cords,  "  I  have  preached  occasionally  at  Middletown,  a  village 
7  miles  west  of  this,  where  there  is  a  good  prospect,  I  think, 
of  building  up  the  Church."  The  church,  chapel,  and  rectory 
have  been  put  in  thorough  repair  during  the  present  rector- 
ship. 

FRENCH  CHURCH  DU  SAINT  ESPRIT. 

The  "  Eglise  des  Refugees  Franchise  a  la  Nouvelle  York" 
was  organized  in  1687,  and  in  1804  became  the  present 
French  Church  du  Saint  Esprit.  The  first  church  was  built 
in  1688,  and  others  followed  in  1704,  1834,  and  in  i860  the 
present  edifice  was  provided.  The  rectors  have  been  :  Rev. 
Pierre  Antoine  Albert,  1804-1806;  Rev.  Henri  Peneveyre, 
1813-1826;  Rev.  Antoine  Verren,  1828-1874;  Rev.  Leon 
Pons,  1874-1879  ;  and  Rev.  Alfred  Victor  Wittmeyer,  rector 
and  incumbent  since  1879.  A  rectory  was  purchased,  but  has 
not  been  occupied  by  any  rector  recently.  There  is  no  re- 
port of  baptisms  and  confirmations.  The  present  number  of 
communicants  is  about  100.    The  wardens  have  been  :  in  1804, 


240  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

S.  Hugget  and  R.  Harrison  ;  in  1814,  R.  Harrison  and  G.  C. 
Anthon ;  in  1824  and  1834,  John  Pintard  and  Thomas 
Hamersly;  in  1844,  Paul  Garesche  and  John  Grange;  in  1854, 
Louis  Loubrel  and  G.  C.  Verplank  ;  in  1864,  Juste  Lanchantin 
and  Thomas  Guille ;  in  1874,  J.  P.  Schlumpf  and  Thomas 
Verren;  and  in  1884,  P.  L.  Lanoir  and  Charles  Lichtenberg. 

ST.  STEPHEN'S  CHURCH,  NEW  YORK. 

At  a  meeting  for  the  organization  of  St.  Stephen's  Church, 
New  York  City,  held  on  Monday  in  Easter  week,  April  19, 
1805,  the  following  gentlemen:  Cornelius  Schuyler  and 
Thomas  Gibbons  were  elected  wardens,  and  Jacob  C.  Mott, 
Jordan  Mott,  Abraham  Fowler,  Isaac  Emmons,  Benjamin 
Clark,  Benjamin  Beekman,  George  Beck,  and  George  Fash 
were  elected  vestrymen. 

On  the  22d  of  April,  1805,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Stroebeck 
was  invited  to  the  rectorship,  and,  being  present  at  the 
meeting,  accepted  the  invitation.  Mr.  Stroebeck  was  the 
minister  of  a  Lutheran  Church  in  Mott  Street.  He  and  the 
mass  of  his  congregation  conformed  to  the  Church. 

December  6,  1805,  the  corporation  of  Trinity  Church 
granted  to  this  church  three  thousand  dollars. 

On  the  26th  of  December,  1805,  being  St.  Stephen's  Day, 
this  church  was  consecrated  to  the  service  of  Almighty  God, 
by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Benjamin  Moore,  Bishop  of  the  Diocese 
of  New  York.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Harris,  Rector  of  St.  Mark's 
Church  in  the  Bowery,  read  divine  service,  and  the  Rev. 
Cave  Jones,  an  assistant  minister  of  Trinity  Church, 
preached  from  Acts,  vii.  55. 

In  the  month  of  April,  1808,  the  vestry  of  Trinity  Church 
presented  to  the  corporation  of  St.  Stephen's,  in  bonds  and 
cash,  seven  thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty-four  dollars  and 
fifty-eight  cents,  to  meet  some  special  pressing  demand  on 
this  body.  In  the  same  year  Trinity  Church  gave  to  this 
church  three  lots  of  land,  one  situated  on  Greenwich  Street, 
and  two  on  Warren  Street. 

April  25,  1809,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Stroebeck  resigned  the  rec- 
torship, having  occupied  it  about  four  years. 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  24 1 

Five  days  after  this  resignation,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Richard 
Channing  Moore,  then  officiating  in  Richmond,  Staten  Is- 
land, was  elected  to  the  rectorship,  and  on  the  2d  of  June, 
1809,  he  formally  accepted  ;  the  rectorship  having  been  va- 
cant only  twenty-four  days.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Moore,  while 
rector  of  this  church,  was  elected  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  of 
Virginia,  and  consecrated  to  that  high  office  on  the  18th  of 
May,  18 14. 

On  the  8th  of  June,  1814,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Feltus,  then  rec- 
tor of  St.  Ann's  Church,  Brooklyn,  was  elected  to  the  rec- 
torship, and  accepted  the  invitation. 

On  October  23,  1823,  the  land  on  which  the  church  stood 
was  purchased  ;  till  then  it  had  been  leased. 

Dr.  Feltus,  after  an  illness  of  four  weeks,  died  on  the  10th 
of  August,  1828,  having  been  rector  of  St.  Stephen's  fourteen 
years. 

A  vacancy  of  five  months  and  nine  days  followed.  On  the 
8th  of  January,  1829,  the  Rev.  Henry  Anthon,  then  rector 
of  Trinity  Church,  Utica,  N.  Y.,  was  elected,  and  on  January 
19,  1829,  he  accepted  the  rectorship,  and  held  it  about  two 
years.  On  the  17th  of  January,  1831,  he  resigned  it,  having 
received  an  invitation  to  Trinity  Church,  in  this  city. 

On  the  19th  of  January,  1831,  two  days  after  the  resigna- 
tion of  Dr.  Anthon,  the  Rev.  Francis  L.  Hawks  was  unani- 
mously elected  rector.  He  was  instituted  on  the  3d  of 
March,  1831,  and  on  December  8,  1831,  he  resigned,  having 
held  the  rectorship  somewhat  less  than  a  year,  and  removed 
to  St.  Thomas'  Church,  on  Houston  Street  and  Broadway. 

A  vacancy  of  six  months  ensued,  when  the  rectorship 
was  accepted,  on  June  10,  1832,  by  the  Rev.  William  Jack- 
son, of  Alexandria,  Virginia.  After  somewhat  less  than  five 
years,  he  resigned  it,  on  March  25,  1837,  and  removed  to 
Louisville,  Kentucky. 

Two  months  passed,  and,  on  May  18,  1837,  the  Rev.  Jo- 
seph H.  Price  was  elected,  and  on  May  29,  1837,  accepted 
the  rectorship.  He  served  the  parish  until  1866,  for  twenty- 
nine  years,  in  the  old  edifice  on  the  corner  of  Broome  and 
Chrystie  Streets,  and,  continuing  the  incumbent,  seven  years 
16 


242  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

after  it  was  sold,  united  with  the  Church  of  the  Advent  in 
West  Forty-sixth  Street,  in  1873,  and  officiated  two  years 
longer,  when  he  resigned  the  rectorship  in  October,  1875, 
and  the  Rev.  A.  B.  Hart,  the  present  incumbent,  was  then 
chosen  to  succeed  him. 

The  present  wardens  are :  James  Blackhurst  and  Francis 
C.  Hall ;  and  the  vestrymen  are  :  Charles  E.  Fleming,  Peter 
A.  Frasse,  Robert  Hewitt,  Edwin  K.  Linen,  S.  M.  Pike,  Theo. 
E.  Smith,  Wm.  G.  Stansbury,  and  Stephen  R.  Weeks. 

ST.  MICHAEL'S  CHURCH,  NEW  YORK, 

Was  organized  in  1807;  the  first  church  was  built  in  1806, 
and  the  present  edifice  in  1854.  The  rectors  have  been 
Rev.  John  N.  Bartow,  1808-1810;  Rev.  Samuel  Farmar  Jar- 
vis,  1810-1819;  Rev.  William  Richmond,  1820-1837;  Rev. 
Jas.  Cook  Richmond,  1 837-1842;  Rev.  Wm.  Richmond,  1842, 
until  his  death,  1858,  and  Rev.  Thomas  M.  Peters,  D.D., 
since  1858  rector  of  the  parish.  Since  organization,  2,722 
baptisms  are  recorded,  and  956  have  received  confirmation. 
In  1815  there  were  30  communicants ;  in  1825,20;  in  1835, 
78 ;  in  1855,  45  ;  in  1865,  1 10 ;  in  1875,  170 ;  in  1885,  St.  Mi- 
chael's, 485,  and  Bethlehem  Chapel,  107,  making  the  whole 
number  at  present  542.  In  1807  the  wardens  were  Valentine 
Nutter  and  Edward  Dunscomb ;  in  1815,  Valentine  Nutter 
and  William  Rogers;  in  1825,  Valentine  Nutter  and  Wil- 
liam A.  Davis ;  in  1835,  James  F.  De  Peyster  and  James  G. 
Russell;  in  1845,  James  F.  De  Peyster  and  Abraham  V. 
Williams;  in  1855,  the  same;  in  1865,  James  F.  De  Peyster 
and  Henry  Wm.  Theo.  Mali;  in  1875,  James  F.  De  Peyster 
and  David  Tilden  Brown,  and  in  1885,  James  F.  Chamber- 
lain and  William  R.  Peters. 

GRACE  CHURCH,  NEW  YORK. 

This  parish  was  organized  in  1808.  The  first  church, 
which  stood  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Broadway  and  Rector 
Street,  was  consecrated  December  21,  1808.  The  present 
church,  at  the  northeast  corner  of  Broadway  and  Tenth  Street, 
was  consecrated  March  7,  1846.    The  rectors  have  been  :  Rev. 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  243 

Nathaniel  Bowen,  D.D.,  1809-1818,  and  afterward  Bishop  of 
South  Carolina;  Rev.  James  Montgomery,  1818-1820  ;  Rev. 
Jonathan  Mayhew  Wainwright,  D.D.,  1821-1833,  and  after- 
ward provisional  Bishop  of  New  York;  Rev.  Thomas  House 
Taylor,  D.D.,  1834-1867;  Rev.  Henry  Codman  Potter,  D.D., 
1868-1883,  when  he  became  Assistant  Bishop  of  New  York; 
and  William  R.  Huntington,  D.D.,  since  1884  rector,  and  pres- 
ent incumbent.  There  is  a  rectory,  built  of  stone,  in  1848, 
and  forming  part  of  the  architectural  group  of  the  church  and 
its  associated  buildings. 

A  mission  chapel  was  built  on  the  northwest  corner  of 
Madison  Avenue  and  Twenty-eighth  Street,  near  1850,  and 
placed  under  the  ministry  of  Rev.  Edwin  Harwood,  but  it 
soon  developed  into  a  vigorous  and  independent  parish,  under 
the  title  of  The  Church  of  the  Incarnation,  now  established 
on  the  same  avenue  at  the  northeast  corner  of  Thirty-fifth 
Street.  The  mission  chapel,  after  passing  through  various 
ownerships,  was  afterward  demolished.  This  chapel  was 
founded  under  the  rectorship  of  Dr.  Taylor.  In  1853  Grace 
Chapel  was  re-established  in  Fourteenth  Street,  between  Third 
and  Fourth  Avenues.  It  was  destroyed  by  fire  on  the  night 
of  December  23,  1872.  The  present  edifice  was  built  on  the 
same  site,  at  a  cost  of  $60,000,  and  consecrated  in  1876,  Dr. 
Potter,  rector,  and  during  the  same  rectorship  Grace  Church 
chantry  was  erected  in  1878,  immediately  adjoining  the  church 
on  the  south,  and  connected  with  it,  at  a  cost  of  $23,000,  the 
gift  of  Miss  Catharine  L.  Wolfe ;  also  Grace  House,  802 
Broadway,  connected  with  the  chancel  of  the  church,  and 
containing  vestry  room,  clergy  and  robing  room,  room  for 
assistant  minister,  reading  rooms  and  circulating  library,  was 
erected  in  1880,  at  a  cost  of  $35,000,  also  a  gift  from  Miss 
Catharine  L.  Wolfe  ;  also  Grace  Memorial  House,  a  memorial 
of  his  wife  by  Hon.  Levi  P.  Morton,  at  an  expenditure  of 
$28,000;  also  the  beautiful  stone  spire  which  replaced  the 
former,  of  wood,  in  1884,  at  a  cost  of  $56,000,  which,  together 
with  the  cost  of  Grace  Chapel,  was  provided  for  by  subscrip- 
tions in  the  parish.  Grace  House  by-the-sea,  at  Far  Rockaway, 
Long  Island,  a  summer  home  for  women  and  children  from 


244  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

city  tenement  houses,  was  erected  in  1883.  Besides  this  ex- 
penditure of  $202,000  in  edifices  devoted  to  the  religious  and 
charitable  work  of  the  parish,  during  the  rectorship  of  Dr. 
Potter,  extensive  alterations  and  improvements  of  the  interior 
have  been  made,  in  rebuilding  and  decorating  the  chancel, 
new  and  costly  mosaics  and  furniture,  with  a  large  and  very 
complete  organ  at  the  south  of  the  chancel,  which  has  elec- 
tric communication  both  with  an  echo  organ  in  the  roof  over 
the  chancel  and  also  the  old  organ  in  the  gallery,  all  of  which 
can  be  played  from  a  single  keyboard  at  the  chancel  organ. 
This  is  believed  to  be  the  first  successful  application  of  elec- 
tric action  to  a  related  series  of  organs.  Nearly  all  the  win- 
dows have  been  refurnished  with  admirable  stained  glass  from 
the  best  foreign  and  American  workers. 

Since  organization  2,660  baptisms  are  recorded,  and  2,593 
persons  have  received  confirmation.  In  18 10  there  were  50 
communicants;  in  1820,  150;  in  1830,  195;  in  1840,  220;  in 
1850  and  i860,  there  is  no  report ;  in  1870,  264  ;  in  1880,  920, 
and  the  present  number  is  1,200.  The  communicants  of 
Grace  Chapel  are  347,  as  reported  in  the  last  Convention  Jour- 
nal. The  first  wardens,  in  1809,  were  Nicholas  Law  and  Her- 
man LeRoy;  in  1820,  Herman  LeRoy  and  Wright  Post;  in 
1830,  Edward  R.  Jones  and  James  Boggs ;  in  1840-1842, 
Goold  Hoyt  and  William  Bard;  in  1850-1852,  David  Austin 
and  Luther  Bradish  :  in  i860,  Luther  Bradish  and  Robert 
Ray;  in  1870-1872,  Benjamin  Aymeer  and  Adam  Norrie; 
in  1 880-1 882,  Adam  Norrie  and  Lloyd  Wells,  and  at  present, 
Charles  G.  Landon  and  Hugh  Auchincloss. 

The  traditions  of  the  earlier  and  middle  periods  of  its  his- 
tory are  associated  with  the  celebrated  artist  Malibran,  and  the 
hardly  less  celebrated  Julia  Northall,  in  the  choir,  which  ex- 
ercised a  wide  and  permanent  influence  in  the  culture  of  the 
higher  forms  of  religious  music.  For  many  years  Grace  Par- 
ish has  been  thoroughly  organized  for  every  good  word  and 
work,  disbursing  during  the  last  ten  years  of  Dr.  Potter's  rec- 
torship no  less  than  $100,000  each  year.  The  ratio  of  work 
and  beneficence  is  not  likely  to  fall  under  his  successor.  The 
clergy  at  present  connected  with  Dr.  Huntington  are  Rev.  E. 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  245 

O.  Flagg,  rector's  assistant ;  Rev.  George  F.  Nelson,  in  charge 
of  Grace  Chapel;  Rev.  L.  H.  Schwab,  in  charge  of  the  Ger- 
man mission  and  the  Church  of  the  Nativity,  and  Rev.  H.  St. 
G.  Young,  parish  missionary.  Services  in  the  Italian  language 
are  regularly  maintained  at  Grace  Chapel,  which  is  lent  to  the 
Italian  Mission  on  Sunday  afternoons.  Among  the  perma- 
nently organized  activities  are  the  Sunday  schools,  industrial 
schools,  the  St.  Luke's  Association  for  special  care  and  min- 
istrations among  the  sick,  the  Benevolent  Society,  Domestic 
Missionary  and  Relief  Society,  Women's  Foreign  Missionary 
Association,  German  Missionary  Association,  Grace  House, 
with  its  libraries,  Junior  Century  Club  reading  rooms,  the 
Day  Nursery  in  the  Memorial  House,  and  the  Fresh  Air  Fund. 
Most  of  these  organizations  exist  also  in  Grace  Chapel. 
While  passing  through  the  press  it  has  just  transpired  that, 
at  the  Easter  Sunday  Offering,  Miss  Catharine  L.  Wolfe  pre- 
sented $45,000  for  the  purchase  of  St.  Philip's  Church  edifice 
for  the  permanent  establishment  of  the  Italian  Mission,  other 
members  of  Grace  Parish  providing  the  expense  for  its  reno- 
vation and  proper  furnishings.  In  his  introductory  note  to 
the  Year  Book  of  Grace  Parish  for  1855,  the  rector  writes  : 
"The  opportunities  for  usefulness  of  every  sort,  open  to  a 
parish  church  placed  as  ours  is,  are  simply  numberless.  Much 
of  the  work  so  notably  achieved  during  the  past  ten  years  has 
been  of  the  nature  of  a  preparation  for  doing  what  was  wait- 
ing to  be  done.  We  have  now  almost  every  imaginable 
facility  ready  to  hand.  Pray  we  God,  then,  to  give  us  eyes 
to  see  our  calling  and  make  us 

"  '  Strong  in  will 
To  strive,  to  seek,  to  find,  and  not  to  yield.'  " 

ST.  JAMES'  CHURCH,  NEW  YORK. 

This  parish  grew  out  of  a  "  chapel  of  ease,"  erected  for 
the  convenience  of  prominent  church  families  who  passed 
their  summers  at  their  rural  country  seats  along  the  bank  of 
the  East  River.  There  is,  therefore,  no  date  of  organization. 
It  was,  however,  taken  into  union  with  the  Diocesan  Conven- 
tion in  1 8 10,  prior  to  which  date  organization  must  have  taken 


246  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

place,  and  the  first  church  was  built  in  that  year.  Churches 
subsequently  were  erected  in  1869  and  in  1884.  The  rectors 
have  been:  Rev.  Samuel  Farmar  Jarvis,  1813-1820;  Rev. 
William  Richmond,  1820-1837  ;  Rev.  James  Cook  Richmond, 
1 837-1 842  ;  Rev.  John  Dovvdney,  1842-1847;  Rev.  Edwin 
Harwood,  1847-1850;  Rev.  Peter  Schermerhorn  Chauncey, 
1851-1866,  and  Rev.  Cornelius  Bishop  Smith,  since  1867, 
rector  and  present  incumbent.  Since  1867  there  are  576  bap- 
tisms recorded,  and  349  have  received  confirmation  ;  previous 
to  that  year  there  are  no  data.  The  present  number  of  com- 
municants is  about  350.  The  wardens  in  1810  were  Peter 
Schermerhorn  and  Francis  Bayard  Winthrop  ;  in  1820,  Peter 
Schermerhorn  and  Martin  Hoffman;  in  1830,  Edward  R. 
Jones  and  James  Boggs ;  in  1840,  Joseph  Foulke  and  George 
Riblet ;  in  1850,  Peter  Schermerhorn  and  Edward  Jones; 
in  i860,  Samuel  Jaudon  and  Frederick  J.Austin;  in  1870, 
Andrew  D.  Letson  and  Montgomery  A.  Kellogg,  and  in  1880, 
Thomas  Rutter  and  Walter  Shriver. 

St.  James'  Church  was  built  in  1810,  for  the  summer  wor- 
ship of  prominent  citizens  of  New  York,  whose  country  seats 
were  upon  the  bank  of  the  East  River,  near  by.  The  site 
chosen  was  the  summit  of  the  hill,  and  is  now  marked  by 
the  southwest  corner  of  Lexington  Avenue  and  Sixty-ninth 
Street.  But  Seventy-first  Street  marks  the  line  of  the  old 
Harson's  Road,  which  this  church  faced  and  by  which  it  was 
approached  from  both  sides  of  the  island.  For  many  years 
the  parish  was  united  with  St.  Michael's,  near  the  Hudson 
River,  and  had  the  same  rector.  As  the  population  increased, 
worship  was  held  throughout  the  year.  The  church  was  al- 
ways the  prominent  landmark  of  Hamilton  Square,  now 
Lenox  Hill,  and  old  inhabitants  well  remember  its  quaint 
belfry,  its  willows  and  its  shed.  In  1869  a  larger,  but  tempo- 
rary building  was  erected  in  Seventy-second  Street,  and  oc- 
cupied for  fifteen  years.  The  present  church  is  built  in  brown 
stone,  is  Gothic  in  design,  and  after  plans  by  Mr.  Robertson. 
It  includes  a  deep  chancel,  large  Sunday-school  room,  and 
also  five  separate  rooms  for  choir,  library,  guild,  vestry  and 
Bible  classes.     There  are  1,000  sittings,  and  when  the  plans 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  247 

are  carried  out,  the  cost  of  the  church,  including  the  land, 
will  be  nearly  or  quite  $260,000.  It  stands  on  the  same  Har- 
son's  Road  by  which  the  congregation  has  come  to  its  services 
from  the  beginning.  The  present  rector  began  his  work  in 
the  old  church,  and  has  the  unusual  experience  of  minister- 
ing to  the  same  parish  in  three  different  church  edifices.  An 
interesting  relic  of  Fitz-Greene  Halleck  was  deposited  in  the 
corner-stone  of  the  new  church.  It  was  the  poet's  prayer 
book,  presented  by  his  friend  and  biographer,  Gen.  Grant  Wil- 
son, senior  member  of  the  vestry,  who  also  contributed  for 
the  same  purpose  relics  brought  from  the  Holy  Land  and 
from  other  places  of  interest  in  the  Old  World  and  New. 
The  present  church  was  first  occupied  on  Christmas  morn- 
ing, 1884.  Among  the  prominent  members  of  the  parish,  as 
recorded  on  one  of  the  three  brasses  in  repousse  work,  in  the 
vestibule  of  the  tower  on  Madison  Avenue,  may  be  mentioned 
Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  Edmund  H.  Pendleton,  John  Jacob 
Astor,  William  C.  Rhinelander,  Henry  Delafield,  Nathaniel 
Prime,  John  C.  Beekman,  George  Jones,  Henry  Parish,  Ed- 
ward Dunscomb,  Gideon  Lee  and  Charles  Astor  Bristed. 

ZION  CHURCH,  NEW  YORK. 

The  certificate  of  incorporation  is  dated  March  13,  18 10. 
The  first  church  edifice  was  built  in  181 1,  and  the  present  edi- 
fice in  1853-1854.  The  rectors  have  been  Rev.  Ralph  Willis- 
ton,  1805-1817,  an  English  Lutheran  minister  until  the  parish 
was  organized  within  the  jurisdiction  and  authority  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  ;  Rev.  Thomas  Brintnall,  1819- 
1837  ;  Rev.  William  Richmond,  1837-1845  ;  Rev.  Richard  Cox, 
1845-1859;  Rt.  Rev.  Horatio  Southgate,  D.D.,  1859-1872  ; 
Rev.  JohnN.  Gallaher,  D.D.,  1873  to  July  14,  1880,  when  he 
resigned  on  account  of  his  election  as  Bishop  of  Louisiana,  and 
since  April  2,  1880,  Rev.  Charles  C.  Tiffany,  D.D.,  present  in- 
cumbent. A  rectory  was  purchased  in  1867.  A  mission  chapel 
was  organized  and  built  in  185 1,  at  418  West  Forty-first  Street, 
now  under  the  pastoral  charge  of  Rev.  I.  C.  Sturgis.  In  ad- 
dition to  the  usual  Church  ministration  it  sustains  large  and 
flourishing   Sunday  and  industrial  schools.     The  records  of 


248  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

Zion  Church  are  too  defective  to  authorize  any  statement 
concerning  baptisms,  confirmations,  and  communicants  since 
organization.  The  present  number  of  communicants  is  275. 
The  wardens  in  1  810  were  John  P.  Ritter  and  Lewis  Hart- 
man  ;  in  1820,  John  Heath  and  John  Graff;  in  1830,  thesame ; 
in  1840,  John  Heath  and  Frederick  Pentz  ;  in  1850,  Frederick 
Pentz  and  James  Van  Norden :  in  i860,  the  same;  in  1870, 
James  O.  Smith  and  Robert  W.  Nesbit,  and  in  1880,  Samuel 
Hawk  and  David  Clarkson. 

In  1797  a  portion  of  the  congregation  connected  with  a 
German  Lutheran  Church  then  established  on  William  Street, 
after  ineffectual  efforts  to  have  the  services  conducted  in  the 
English  language,  withdrew  and  built  a  frame  church  on 
Maganzine  Street,  now  Pearl  Street,  which  was  incorporated 
July  1,  1797,  as  an  English  Lutheran  Church.  The  rapid  in- 
crease of  the  congregation  necessitated  a  larger  church  build- 
ing. Building  lots  were  purchased  on  Mott  Street,  corner 
of  Cross  Street,  and  in  1801  a  stone  church  was  erected  and 
known  as  the  "  English  Lutheran  Church  Zion."  On  the 
13th  of  March,  18 10,  that  corporation  was  dissolved,  the 
congregation,  with  their  then  pastor,  having  determined  to 
join  themselves  with  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  The 
next  day,  Zion  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  was  incorporated, 
the  pastor  having  received  Holy  Orders.  The  church  was 
consecrated  by  Bishop  Moore,  March  22,  18 10.  The  church 
was  totally  destroyed  by  fire  October  31,  18 15,  and  its  recon- 
struction was  not  completed  until  1819,  when  it  was  conse- 
crated by  Bishop  Hobart,  on  the  19th  of  November.  In  1850 
the  erection  of  a  church  in  the  upper  part  of  the  city  was 
agitated.  Final  action  seems  to  have  been  determined  by  the 
liberal  proposition  of  the  heirs  of  Susan  Ogden,  who,  through 
the  Hon.  Murray  Hoffman,  offered  as  a  gift  five  lots  of  land 
on  the  southeast  corner,  and  five  lots  on  the  southwest  corner 
of  Madison  Avenue  and  Thirty-eighth  Street,  conditioned 
upon  the  building  of  a  church.  In  1853  the  church  on  Mott 
Street  was  sold — it.  is  now  standing — and  in  185 1  a  chapel  to 
Zion  was  built  on  Thirty-eighth  Street;  and,  in  1853— 1854, 
Zion   Church  was  built,  and  consecrated  by  Bishop  Wain- 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  249 

wright,  June  28,  1854.  The  Church  of  the  Atonement  on 
Madison  Avenue  was  consolidated  with  Zion  Church,  March 
30,  1880,  under  the  corporate  name  of  The  Rector,  Wardens 
and  Vestrymen  of  Zion  Church,  in  the  City  of  New  York. 

ST.  GEORGE'S  CHURCH,  NEW  YORK, 

Was  organized  November  20,  181 1,  previous  to  which  date  it 
had  been  a  chapel  of  Trinity  Parish.  The  first  church  was 
built  in  175 1  and  1752,  in  Beekman  Street,  on  a  north-side 
corner.  The  present  church  was  built  on  the  west  side  of 
Stuyvesant  Square,  1 847-1848,  and  greatly  injured  by  fire 
in  1865,  but  was  rebuilt,  preserving  the  old  walls  and  spires. 
The  rectors  were:  Rev.  John  Kewley,  1813-1816  ;  Rev.  James 
Milner,  D.D,  1816-1845  ;  Rev.  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  D.D.,  1845 
-1878,  at  which  time  he  was  elected  rector  Emeritus,  re- 
taining and  receiving  his  full  salary  until  he  died  in  Septem- 
ber, 1885.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  assistant,  Rev.  Walter 
W.  Williams,  D.D.,  who  became  rector  in  May,  1881,  and 
since  January  1,  1883,  Rev.  William  S.  Rainsford,  present 
incumbent.  The  rectory  was  built  on  land  adjoining  the 
church,  in  1852.  A  chapel  on  Sixteenth  Street,  and  Sunday- 
school  building,  were  provided  in  1848,  during  Dr.  Tyng's 
ministry.  In  May  of  the  current  year  the  erection  of  a  parish 
house,  a  memorial  of  Charles  Tracy,  many  years  warden,  and 
his  wife  Louisa,  will  be  begun  on  ground  adjoining  the  church, 
86  feet  by  100,  and  completed,  from  the  munificent  gift  of 
the  heirs  and  family  of  Mr.  Tracy,  promising  to  be  the  most 
complete  edifice  of  its  class  in  the  city.  The  parish  records 
are  imperfect,  and  do  not  present  a  complete  account  of 
clerical  acts,  as  Dr.  Milner's  rectorship  has  no  account  of 
either  baptisms  or  persons  confirmed.  However,  4,574  bap- 
tisms are  recorded,  and  2,262  are  ascertained  to  have  received 
this  apostolic  rite.  The  present  number  of  communicants 
is  1,100.  The  wardens  in  181 1  were:  Garritt  H.VanWagenen 
and  Henry  Peters  ;  in  1821-1831,  J.  De  Lancey  Walton  and 
Edward  Morewood  ;  in  1831,  Herbert  Van  Wagenen  and  John 
Stearns,  M.D.  ;  in  1841,  John  Stearns,  M.D.  and  Thomas 
Bloodgood ;    in    185 1,    William  Whitlock   and    Frederick  S. 


250  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

Winston;  in  1861,  William  Whitlock  and  A.  Law  ;  in  1871, 
Samuel  Hopkins  and  Charles  Tracy,  and  at  present,  David 
Dows  and  J.  Pierpont  Morgan. 

St.  George's  Chapel  was  erected  by  Trinity  Parish  in  1752, 
and  conveyed  to  St.  George's  Parish  at  its  organization  in 
181 1,  by  the  parent  church,  together  with  several  lots  as  an 
endowment.  On  the  accession  of  the  present  rector  the 
vestry  resolved,  at  his  urgent  request,  to  make  the  church 
free,  and  the  results,  not  only  spiritually  and  socially,  but 
financially,  have  greatly  exceeded  their  expectation.  Not 
only  is  the  church  thronged  to  its  utmost  capacity,  and 
services  greatly  multiplied  and  enriched  with  a  chancel  choir 
and  organ,  but  the  voluntary  contributions  and  offertories 
reach  a  far  larger  amount  than  was  ever  realized  from  pew 
rentals.  The  parish  activities  are  greatly  multiplied  and  in 
most  thrifty  operation.  There  is  a  mission  under  one  of  the 
parish  clergy  placed  on  Avenue  A,  near  Sixteenth  Street, 
and  other  similar  undertakings,  as  the  Church  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, in  Stanton  Street,  under  the  care  of  Rev.  E.  F.  Miles, 
M.D.,  receive  support  and  co-operation  from  members  of  St. 
George's  Parish. 

It  may  be  of  interest  and  should  therefore  be  recorded 
here,  that  under  Dr.  Milner's  rectorship  the  proposition  of 
removal  up  town  was  first  proposed.  The  doctor  very 
strongly  urged  the  erection  of  a  large,  free  chapel  up  town,  to 
be  associated  with  the  old  church,  which,  according  to  his 
design,  was  still  to  remain  down  town. 

ST.  JAMES',  HYDE  PARK. 

For  its  foundation  this  parish  is  largely  indebted  to  the 
zeal  and  liberality  of  Samuel  Bard,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  President 
of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  the  University 
of  the  State  of  New  York  ;  seconded  by  the  efforts  of  Gen. 
Morgan  Lewis,  some  time  Governor  of  this  State,  and  a  son 
of  Francis  Lewis,  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence ;  of  Judge  Nathaniel  Pendleton,  Judge  John 
Johnston,  and  others.  At  the  date  of  its  organization  it 
was  the  only  parish  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Hudson,  for  a 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  25 1 

considerable  distance  north  of  Poughkeepsie.  There  were  16 
resident  communicants  before  the  establishment  of  the  par- 
ish. The  first  church  edifice  was  built  and  consecrated  in 
181 1  before  the  formal  incorporation  as  St.  James'  Church, 
at  Hyde  Park — then  a  part  of  the  town  of  Clinton — which 
took  place  on  March  30,  1812,  when  the  first  vestry  were 
elected,  as  follows : 

Wardens :  Dr.  Samuel  Bard  and  Gen.  Morgan  Lewis. 

Vestrymen :  John  Johnston,  Nathaniel  Pendleton,  Wil- 
liam Broome,  William  Bard,  Christopher  Hughes,  James  D. 
Livingston,  Titus  Dutton,  and  William  Duer. 

The  parish  was  admitted  into  union  with  the  Convention 
of  the  Diocese,  October  6,  1812,  Dr.  Samuel  Bard  and  Nathan- 
iel Pendleton  being  its  first  lay  delegates. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  its  rectors: 
1811-1817.   Rev.  John  McVickar,  D.D.,  resigned  1817. 
1818-1823.  Rev.  David  Brown;  resigned  1823. 
1824-1833.  Rev.  Samuel  Roosevelt  Johnson,  D.D. ;  resigned 

1833- 
1835-1856.  Rev.  Reuben  Sherwood,  D.D. ,  died  May  II,  1856. 
1856-1860.  Rev.  Horace  Stringfellow,  D.D.,  resigned  i860. 
1860-1876.  Rev.  James  S.  Purdy,  D.D.,  resigned  1876. 
1876.  Rev.  Philander  N.  Cady,  D.D.,  still  incumbent. 

The  rectory  was  built  in  1835.  About  the  year  1832, 
the  then  rector,  Dr.  Johnson,  erected  a  school-house  in  the 
village  of  Hyde  Park,  about  three-fourths  of  a  mile  from  the 
parish  church,  which  he  presented  to  the  parish,  together 
with  the  lot  on  which  it  stood,  in  1834. 

In  1857,  during  the  rectorship  of  Dr.  Stringfellow,  a 
chapel  was  erected  on  the  school  lot,  adjoining  the  school- 
house.  The  grounds  were  subsequently  enlarged  by  pur- 
chase. During  the  same  rectorship  a  chapel  was  also  built 
at  Staatsburgh,  within  the  limits  of  the  parish,  which  was  or- 
ganized as  an  independent  parish,  April  24,  1882,  under  the 
title  of  St.  Margaret's  Church,  Staatsburgh. 

Since  the  organization  of  St.  James',  1,237  nave  been 
baptized,  and  617  confirmed.  The  number  of  communicants 
at  the  beginning  of  each  decade  was:   1812,  15;    1820,  58; 


252  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

1830,  48;   1840,  61  ;   1853,  101  ;   i860,  80;  1870,  92;  1880,  183. 

St.  Margaret's,  with  53  communicants,  was  set  off  in  1882. 
The  present  number  is  168. 

The  names  of  wardens  at  the  beginning  of  each  decade 
are:  1812,  Samuel  Bard  and  Morgan  Lewis;  1820,  Samuel 
Bard  and  Morgan  Lewis;  1830,  Morgan  Lewis  and  James 
Russell  ;  1840,  John  Johnston  and  James  Russell  ;  1850, 
John  Johnston  and  James  Russell;  i860,  James  Russell  and 
Edmund  H.  Pendleton;  1870,  Christopher  Hughes  and  Elias 
Butler  ;  1880,  Christopher  Hughes  and  N.  Pendleton  Rogers  ; 
1885,  Christopher  Hughes  and  N.  Pendleton  Rogers. 

ST.  PAUL'S  CHURCH,  TIVOLI-ON-HUDSON. 

This  parish  was  organized  in  18 16,  the  first  church  built  in 
1818,  and  the  present  edifice  in  1869. 

The  Rev.  Henry  Anthon,  D.D.,  while  in  deacon's  orders, 
took  charge  of  the  parish  in  1816;  afterwards  rector  of  St. 
Marks  in  the  Bowery,  New  York  City. 

The  Rev.  N.  T.  Bruce  was  rector  from  1820  to  1824. 

The  Rev.  Wm.  Shelton,  D.D.,  afterward  in  Buffalo,  from 
1824  to  1828. 

The  Rev.  John  Grigg,  in  Buffalo,  from  1829  to  1835. 

The  Rev.  Cicero  S.  Hawks,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Missouri, 
from  1836  to  1837. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Kearney  (died  1844),  of  Missouri,  from  1837 
to  1844. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Bartlett  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Sherwood  suc- 
ceeded temporarily. 

The  Rev.  John  Henry  Hobart,  D.D.,  son  of  the  bishop, 
from  1844  to  1845. 

The  Rev.  John  McCarthy,  from  1845  to  1846,  a  chaplain 
in  our  army  during  the  Mexican  war,  who  preached  the  first 
Protestant  sermon  in  the  City  of  Mexico. 

The  Rev.  Henry  de  Koven,  D.D.,  from  185 1  to  1854. 

The  Rev.  R.  O.  Page,  from  1855  to  1856. 

The  Rev.  E.  A.  Nichols  in  temporary  charge,  summers  of 
'57  and  '58. 

The  Rev.  G.  Lewis  Piatt,  from  1859  t°  the  present. 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  253 

The  rectory  was  built  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  de  Koven  in  1853. 
A  new  one  is  shortly  to  be  erected  near  the  new  church,  and 
for  this  $3,000  has  been  provided,  with  a  site  of  three  acres. 

The  records  are  incomplete,  there  being  a  lapse  of  eleven 
years,  following  1825.  There  are  recorded  302  baptisms,  and 
the  confirmations  of  121. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  second  decade  there  were  25  com- 
municants, at  present  there  are  49. 

The  first  wardens  were  Lt.-Gov.  Edward  P.  Livingston, 
of  Clermont,  and  Dr.  G.  Wheeler,  of  Upper  Red  Hook. 

Their  successors  were  John  Swift  Livingston,  of  Tivoli, 
and  Clermont  Livingston,  of  Clermont. 

Those  now  in  office  are  Clermont  Livingston,  of  Clermont, 
and  Johnston  Livingston,  of  Tivoli. 

The  corner  stone  of  the  first  church  was  laid  by  the  Rev. 
Henry  Anthon,  July  7,  1818.  This  was  built  of  wood,  and 
situated  a  mile  and  a  quarter  east  from  Tivoli.  It  was  con- 
secrated May  27,  1 8 19,  by  Bishop  Hobart. 

The  present  rector,  Rev.  G.  Lewis  Piatt,  laid  the  corner 
stone  of  a  new  Gothic  stone  church,  June  16,  1868,  near  the 
river  on  elevated  ground,  presented  by  Eugene  A.  Living- 
ston and  John  Watts  de  Peyster.  It  was  opened  for  divine 
service  in  1869,  and  consecrated  by  Bishop  Potter  October 
11,  1870.  The  cost  of  the  church  and  furnishing  was  about 
$22,000.  It  contains  beautiful  tablets  to  the  memory  of 
Chancellor  Livingston,  Lt.-Gov.  E.  P.  Livingston,  and  John 
Watts,  of  New  York  City.  The  seating  capacity  is  over  300. 
Under  the  present  rector  there  have  been  181  baptisms  and 
85  have  been  confirmed.  There  is  a  Sunday  school  of  180 
scholars.  This  parish,  with  a  history  of  seventy  years,  is 
the  mother  church  in  Dutchess  County,  north  of  Hyde  Park. 
Its  records  have  accounts  of  services  in  Clermont,  Upper  Red 
Hook,  Pine  Plains,  and  Rhinebeck.  The  parish  now  extends 
nearly  seven  miles  along  the  Hudson. 


254  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

ST.  THOMAS'  CHURCH,  MAMARONECK. 

This  parish  was  organized  in  1817.  The  first  church  edi- 
fice was  built  in  1822-23,  and  consecrated  by  Bishop  Ho- 
bart,  June  17,  1823.  A  new  and  costly  memorial  has  been 
in  process  of  construction  since  1884,  and  is  yet  incomplete. 

The  first  clergyman  in  charge  was  Rev.  William  Heath- 
cote  De  Lancey,  deacon  from  June,  1821,  to  April,  1882.  One 
month  before  the  close  of  his  ministry  in  this  parish  he  was 
ordained  to  the  priesthood  by  Bishop  Hobart  in  Trinity 
Church,  New  York.  During  the  latter  part  of  1822  Rev. 
William  Richmond  officiated  Wednesday  evenings,  coming 
out  from  his  parish  at  Bloomingdale  for  that  purpose.  His 
services  were  given  gratuitously.  From  1823  to  1837  the 
parish  was  in  charge  either  of  the  rector  of  Trinity  Church, 
New  Rochelle,  Christ  Church,  Rye,  or  Grace  Church,  White 
Plains,  as  follows:  Rev.  William  M.  Carmichael,  of  Rye,  1832- 
1834;  Rev.  Peter  S.  Chauncey,  of  Rye,  1834-1836;  Rev. 
Robert  W.  Harris,  of  White  Plains,  1836-1837.  From  this 
period  the  parish  was  served  by  its  own  rectors,  as  follows  : 
Rev.  William  A.  Curtis,  1837-1841  ;  Rev.  John  W.  Ward, 
1841-1866;  Rev.  Horatio  Gray,  1867-1871,  and  from  1871, 
Rev.  William  White  Montgomery,  present  incumbent.  Of 
the  former  officiating  clergy  and  rectors,  all  are  deceased  ex- 
cepting Rev.  Dr.  Harris  and  Rev.  Horatio  Gray. 

The  first  rectory  was  bought  in  1844.  The  second  is  now 
in  course  of  building.  A  chapel  with  rooms  for  parish  work 
is  now  building,  Rev.  Wm.  W.  Montgomery,  rector. 

The  proximate  number  of  baptisms  is  781,  and  288  have 
received  confirmation.  The  present  number  of  communi- 
cants is  134. 

The  wardens  have  been:  1817,  John  Peter  De  Lancey 
and  Peter  Jay  Munroe  ;  1827,  John  Peter  De  Lancey  and  Guy 
C.  Bayley;  1837,  Samuel  Purdy  and  Monmouth  Lyon  ;  1847, 
Samuel  Purdy  and  Benjamin  M.  Brown  ;  1857,  Jesse  Burgess 
and  Benjamin  H.  Purdy;  1867,  Samuel  G.  Purdy  and  George 
R.    Jackson;   1877,   Charles    H.    Birney  and  James  Stinger. 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  255 

The  wardens  at  this  date  are  James  G.  Harris  and  Erastus 
C.  Benedict. 

The  elaborate  and  costly  stone  church,  now  in  course  of 
construction,  is  a  memorial  of  the  late  Mrs.  Henrietta  Con- 
stable, of  New  York  City,  for  many  years  a  summer  resident 
and  parishioner.  She  died  February  I,  1884.  The  church 
is  built  by  her  husband,  James  M.  Constable,  and  her  children, 
Frederick  A.  Constable,  Mrs.  Henriatta  M.  Arnold,  and  Mrs. 
Edwin  H.  Weatherbee.  Mr.  Hicks  Arnold,  son-in-law  of 
Mrs.  Constable,  gives  the  chancel  windows  as  memorials 
of  the  late  Aaron  Arnold  and  Henrietta,  his  wife,  parents  of 
Mrs.  Constable,  and  the  Baptistery  windows,  as  memorials  of 
Mrs.  Constable.  The  clock  and  chime  of  ten  bells  are  also 
presented  by  him. 

ST.  THOMAS'  CHURCH,  NEW  WINDSOR, 

Was  organized  April  8,  1818.  The  church  was  built  in  1848. 
The  succession  of  rectors  is  as  follows :  Rev.  John  Brown, 
D.D.,  1818-1847;  Rev.  Edmund  Embury,  1848-1850;  Rev. 
Reuben  Riley,  1 85 1,  part  of  the  year;  Rev.  Christopher  B. 
Wyatt,  1858-1862;  Rev.  E.  H.  Cressey,  1 862-1 863  ;  Rev. 
Richard  Temple,  1868-1870;  Rev.  Haslett  McKim,  1872- 
1883;  Rev.  William  H.  Burbank,  since  1883,  incumbent. 
The  present  rectory  was  purchased  in  1883.  One  was 
built  in  1 861  but  was  sold  soon  after.  Since  organization 
170  have  received  baptism.  There  are  no  reports  of  con- 
firmations or  communicants  previous  to  185 1.  Since  1853, 
97  have  been  confirmed.  In  185 1  there  were  73  communi- 
cants; in  1861,  no  record;  in  1872,  87,  and  in  1882,  after 
dropping  the  names  of  persons  no  longer  regular  communi- 
cants, there  were  51.  The  present  number  is  54.  The  war- 
dens have  been:  in  1820,  Thomas  Ellison  and  Charles  Lud- 
low; in  1830,  Charles  Ludlow  and  David  Humphrey;  in 
1840,  Thomas  Ellison  and  Julius  Hale;  in  1850,  Thomas 
Ellison  and  Christopher  B.  Miller;  in  i860,  Thomas  Ellison 
and  Philip  Verplanck  ;  in  1 870,  S.  B.  Caldwell  and  Thomas 
Ellison,  and  in  1880,  Thomas  Ellison  and  S.  B.  Musgrave. 


256  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

CHRIST  CHURCH,  PATERSON.* 

There  is  no  report  from  this  parish  which  was  received 
into  union  with  the  Convention  in  1821.  The  latest  Conven- 
tion report  is  dated  1 881,  when  Rev.  Matthew  A.  Baily,  M.D., 
was  rector  and  missionary;  at  that  time  there  were  24  com- 
municants. 

ST.  LUKE'S  CHURCH,  NEW  YORK. 

This  parish  was  organized  in  1820  and  a  church  built  in 
1821,  which  constituted  the  nucleus  for  subsequent  enlarge- 
ments in  1850  and  in  1875.  Its  rectors  have  been  Rev. 
George  Upfold,  first  rector,  1821  ;  Rev.  Levi  Silliman  Ives, 
(no  dates)  ;  Rev.  William  Rollinson  Whittingham,  1 83 1  ; 
Rev.  John  Murray  Forbes,  1834;  and  Rev.  Isaac  Henry 
Tuttle,  who  became  rector  June  30,  1850,  and  is  present 
incumbent.  A  rectory  was  provided  about  the  year  1823, 
now  bearing  the  number  477  Hudson  Street,  adjoining  the 
church.  The  first  Sunday-school  building,  adjoining  the 
church  on  the  south  side,  64x32  feet,  was  erected  about  1859. 
The  second  Sunday-school  building,  adjoining  on  the  north 
side,  50  x  36  feet,  and  the  church  extension  in  the  rear,  nearly 
80  x  38,  in  1875,  were  all  added  during  the  present  rectorship. 
It  is  estimated  that  6,000  baptisms  have  been  administered. 
It  is  quite  impossible  to  estimate  the  number  of  confirma- 
tions or  state  the  number  of  communicants  by  decades.  The 
present  number  is  460.  The  rector,  who  at  this  writing  is 
absent,  detained  by  domestic  affliction,  writes  thus  :  "  Away 
from  the  Church  Records,  I  cannot  give  the  actual  statistics 
of  baptisms,  confirmations,  and  communicants  ;  nor  could  I,  if 
at  home,  as  I  found  on  my  succession  to  the  rectorship,  in 
1850,  no  records  covering  communicants  and  confirmations. 
As  the  baptisms  have  annually  averaged  100  or  more,  during 
the  thirty-six  years  of  my  ministry  over  the  parish,  there  must 
have  have  been  more  than  6,000  baptisms  since  organization." 
The  present  wardens  are  Francis  Pott  and  Alexander  Mc- 
Donald. 

At  the  time  of  its  organization,  St.  Luke's  was  the  parish 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  257 

church  of  a  quiet,  rural  village  lying  well  out  of  town  on  the 
Albany  Post  Road.  Local  changes  have  left  it  in  the  midst 
of  a  dense  population — of  a  poor,  laboring  population,  or 
tradespeople  in  a  small  way.  The  tides  of  thrift  and  wealth 
have  taken  more  central  channels,  leaving  both  the  extreme 
east  and  west  sides  of  the  city,  for  the  most  part,  literally 
missionary  ground.  We  find  that  the  Year  Book  of  Trinity 
Parish,  for  1884,  says  of  St.  Luke's  :  "This  is,  in  the  strict 
sense  of  the  word,  a  mission  church,  having  daily  morning 
and  evening  prayer,  the  weekly  Communion,  a  large  Sunday 
school,  a  parochial  school,  and  several  clergymen,  one  of  whom 
resides  in  the  ninth  ward,  in  the  midst  of  the  poor  popula- 
tion in  that  quarter  of  the  town.  St.  Luke's  Church  has 
scarcely  a  wealthy  person  connected  with  it ;  the  people  are 
unable  to  support  it,  and  the  building  would  have  been  sold 
and  the  site  abandoned  long  ago  had  not  the  Corporation  of 
Trinity  interposed  to  prevent  this  calamity.  The  allowance 
of  $10,000  per  annum  to  this  church  is  still  continued,  in  con- 
sideration of  which  annual  grant,  and  of  additional  assistance 
in  enlarging  the  church  and  providing  greater  accommodation 
for  the  people  of  the  district  in  which  it  is  situated,  St.  Luke's 
has  been  made  free."  Strange  fortunes  have  overtaken  its 
rectorship.  The  first  three  subsequently  became  bishops 
respectively  of  the  Dioceses  of  Indiana,  North  Carolina,  and 
Maryland.  Two  of  them  abandoned  the  Church  for  Rome, 
and  one  of  these,  Dr.  Forbes,  afterwards  made  his  recantation, 
and  was  restored  to  his  first  ministry,  from  which  he  recently 
entered  into  rest.  The  following  memorabilia  will  have 
interest  for  both  young  and  aged  : 

Work  on  the  church  was  begun  in  1821.  The  locality  was 
then  known  as  the  village  of  Greenwich.  Green  fields 
stretched  all  around  it.  Houses  were  few  and  scattered 
Hudson  Street  presented  the  appearance  of  an  ordinary 
country  road.  Back  of  the  church  stood  the  old  State  prison. 
Trinity  Church  promptly  gave  the  ground  for  the  new  church, 
and  soon  added  two  lots  for  the  churchyard.  The  vestry 
projected  a  building  of  the  dimensions  of  forty-five  feet  by 
fifty-five  feet,  and  not  without  misgivings  that  they  were 
17 


258  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

attempting  too  much,  enlarged  the  plan  to  forty-eight  by 
sixty-three  feet.  John  Heath  contracted  to  build  it  for 
$7,500.  Mr.  Labagh,  a  zealous  layman,  prepared  the  corner 
stone  at  his  own  expense.  At  the  time  the  stone  was  laid, 
only  one  stage,  twice  a  day,  ran  from  Greenwich  to  New 
York.  The  population  of  the  city  was  still  concentrated  near 
the  Battery.  The  ceremony  of  laying  the  corner  stone  was 
performed  by  Bishop  Hobart,  assisted  by  the  rector,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  George  Upfold,  and  most  of  the  clergy  of  the  city. 
Pending  the  building  of  the  church,  services  were  held  in  a 
room  over  the  watch  house  at  Hudson  and  Christopher 
Streets.  Greenwich  soon  became  a  favorite  summer  resort. 
Some  enterprising  Churchmen,  zealous  to  secure  for  St.  Luke's 
a  winter  congregation,  induced  capitalists  to  experiment  in 
the  erection  of  houses,  which  proved  a  success.  The  parson- 
age was  one  of  the  first  dwellings  erected  in  Hudson  Street. 
The  church  became  ambitious,  and  in  the  third  year  of  its 
existence  procured  an  organ  with  3^  octaves  for  $250,  con- 
ditional, however,  on  securing  voluntary  music  and  an  organ- 
ist. The  parish  steadily  increased,  and  in  1825  had  about  100 
families.  After  a  rectorship  of  eight  years,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Upfold  resigned,  and  accepted  the  charge  of  St.  Thomas' 
Church. 

The  Rev.  Levi  S.  Ives  became  the  second  rector  of  St. 
Luke's.  During  his  rectorship  of  three  years  the  vestry  en- 
larged the  church  at  a  cost  of  about  $5,000.  At  this  time 
also  Miss  Louisa  Gillingham  was  engaged  to  sing  at  the  un- 
precedented salary  of  $250  a  year.  On  June  29,  1831,  the 
Rev.  W.  R.  Wittingham,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Maryland,  ac- 
cepted the  rectorship  of  St.  Luke's.  He  was  an  enthusiastic 
advocate  of  parochial  education.  Soon  the  walls  of  the  large 
building  now  standing  on  the  south-west  corner  of  Hudson 
and  Grove  Streets  began  to  rise,  but  the  enterprise  proved  too 
costly  for  the  means  of  the  parish.  In  August,  1834,  the 
Rev.  John  Murray  Forbes  was  called  to  fill  the  vacant  rector- 
ship. He  remained  in  charge  for  sixteen  years,  and  the  con- 
gregation steadily  increased.  He  went  over  to  the  Church  of 
Rome,  but  subsequently  returned  to  his  former  belief. 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  259 

The  present  incumbent,  the  Rev.  Isaac  H.  Tuttle,  became 
rector  of  St.  Luke's  on  June  30,  1850,  and  the  church  soon 
emerged  from  the  shadow  which  Mr.  Forbes'  defection  had 
thrown  over  it.  A  large  school-room  as  a  wing  on  the  south 
of  the  church  was  soon  erected.  It  proved  insufficient  in 
size,  and  another  large  wing  was  subsequently  built  on  the 
north  of  the  church.  In  1875  the  church  was  still  further 
enlarged,  aided  by  Trinity  Church,  by  an  addition  to  the  rear 
thirty-eight  by  eighty  feet.  The  congregation  of  St.  Luke's 
Church  numbers  on  an  average  400  persons,  more  than  double 
that  number  being  on  the  rolls. 

ST.  THOMAS'  CHURCH,  NEW  YORK. 

This  parish  was  organized  December  25,  1823.  The  first 
church  was  built  of  stone,  after  plans  designed  by  Rev.  Prof. 
McVickar,  D.D.,  of  Columbia  College  ( 1 824-1 825),  and  situated 
at  the  north-west  corner  of  Broadway  and  Houston  Street. 
The  new  church,  after  designs  by  Richard  Upjohn,  was  built 
in  the  years  1868-1870.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  in  1868  ; 
it  was  opened  for  Divine  service  in  1870,  and  consecrated 
May  15,  1883.  The  rectors  have  been;  Rev.  Cornelius  R. 
Duffie,  D.D.,  1823-1827;  Rev.  George  Upfold,  M.D.,  D.D., 
afterwards  Bishop  of  Indiana,  1828-1831  ;  Rev.  Francis  L. 
Hawks,  D.D.,  1831-1843;  Rev.  Henry  J.  Whitehouse,  D.D., 
afterwards  Bishop  of  Illinois,  1843-185 1  ;  Rev.  Edmund  Ne- 
ville, D.D.,  July,  1852-1856,  and  Rev.  William  F.  Morgan, 
D.D.,  from  January,  1857,  present  incumbent. 

There  is  a  spacious  and  beautiful  rectory,  after  designs 
by  Upjohn,  in  architectural  keeping  with  the  group  of  church 
buildings  of  which  it  is  part.  It  was  built  in  1872  and  1873. 
Other  parish  buildings  and  mission  houses  are  St.  Thomas' 
Free  Chapel,  East  Sixtieth  Street,  between  Third  and  Sec- 
ond Avenues.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  by  Bishop  Horatio 
Potter,  October  4,  1872,  and  was  consecrated  on  the  Feast  of 
St.  Thomas  the  Apostle,  December2i,  1872.  Its  cost  was  $25,- 
000.  St.  Thomas'  House,  East  Fifty-ninth  Street,  adjacent  to 
the  Free  Chapel,  was  built  at  the  sole  cost  of  Hon.  and  Mrs. 
Roswell  P.  Flower,  as  a  memorial  of  their  only  son,  deceased, 


260  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

Henry  Keep  Flower;  $40,000  was  expended  in  its  construction. 
Mr.  Charles  C.  Haight  made  the  designs,  which  are  admirably- 
executed  in  brown  stone,  in  what  may  be  styled  Collegiate 
Gothic  ;  all  the  buildings  now  in  use  by  the  parish  and  its 
mission  works  were  built  during  the  rectorship  of  the  Rev. 
Wm.  F.  Morgan,  D.D. 

Since  organization  2,430  baptisms  are  recorded,  and  1,643 
have  received  confirmation.  The  present  number  of  com- 
municants is  about  1,000.  The  wardens  and  vestry  of  Old 
St.  Thomas',  in  1823,  were:  wardens,  Isaac  Lawrence  and 
Thomas  M.  Huntington,  and  vestry,  David  Hadden,  John 
Duer,  William  B.  Lawrence,  Richard  Oakley,  John  J.  Lam- 
bert, Charles  King,  Murray  Hoffman,  and  William  B.  Astor. 
At  present  (1886)  the  wardens  are  Daniel  T.  Hoag  and  George 
MacCulloch  Miller,  and  the  vestry  are  John  H.  Watson, 
James  C.  Fargo,  William  H.  Lee,  Joseph  W.  Harper,  Jr., 
Charles  Short,  LL.D.,  Henry  H.  Cook,  Roswell  P.  Flower, 
and  Hiram  W.  Sibley. 

The  present  church  edifice,  at  the  north-west  corner  of 
Fifth  Avenue  and  Fifty-third  Street,  with  the  rectory  at  the 
rear,  on  Fifty-third,  is  one  of  the  most  commanding  architect- 
ural groups  in  the  city,  and  was  looked  upon  by  Mr.  Upjohn  as 
his  masterpiece.  It  represents,  altogether,  with  the  furnish- 
ings and  grounds,  a  value  of  nearly  or  quite  $1,000,000.  The 
ground  plans  and  treatment  of  interior  spaces  and  proportions 
are  strikingly  bold  and  vigorous.  The  columns  that  support  the 
nave  roofing  are  monoliths,  and  the  effect  of  a  central  dome 
is  secured  at  the  intersection  of  nave  and  transept,  much  in 
the  spirit  of  the  Florentine  Gothic.  The  head  of  the  cross, 
apsed,  gives  a  chancel  of  impressive  proportions  and  dimen- 
sions, which  is  adorned  in  a  most  reverent  spirit  by  a  series 
of  cartoons  by  John  La  Farge  and  a  reredos  in  old  gold  by 
St.  Gaudens,  presenting  the  Adoration  of  the  Cross  by  cherubs 
and  angels.  The  chancel  is  flanked  on  both  sides  by  shal- 
lower recesses,  in  which  the  great  organ,  by  Roosevelt,  is  built 
in  two  parts,  for  a  double  choir.  This  dome-like  effect,  under 
the  lantern,  is  accentuated  by  the  broad,  shallow  arms  of  the 
cross,  and  the  great  breadth  of  the  nave,  brought  out  by  the 


PARISH    HISTORIES.  26l 

partial  suppression  of  the  aisles.  Indeed,  there  is  a  striking 
and  edifying  union  of  both  Byzantine  and  Gothic  suggestion. 
The  sense  of  spaciousness  is  also  enhanced  by  throwing  the 
chapel,  first  and  second  floors,  lying  along  the  north  side,  full 
into  the  nave.  There  are  not  far  from  2,500  sittings  available 
for  the  congregation.  The  entire  cost  of  decorating  the 
chancel,  including  the  valuable  works  of  La  Farge  and  St. 
Gaudens,  was  assumed  by  Mr.  Charles  H.  Housman,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  parish,  as  a  memorial  to  his  mother,  Mrs.  Sarah  A. 
Housman,  who  also  provided  the  cost  of  the  angels  with 
instruments  of  music,  after  Fra  Angelico,  in  the  arched  re- 
cesses above  the  organ,  also  executed  by  La  Farge.  There 
is  a  Meneely  chime  of  bells  in  the  tower,  placed  as  a  memo- 
rial of  his  mother  by  Mr.  Thomas  W.  Walton,  at  a  cost  of 
$6,ooo.  The  cross  surmounting  the  tower,  the  richly  carved 
lectern,  the  stained-glass  windows,  and  other  valuable  gifts, 
are  memorials. 

The  clergy  in  charge  of  St.  Thomas'  Free  Chapel  have 
been  Rev.  Frederick  Sill,  Rev.  Ralph  Hoyt,  Rev.  J.  B.  C. 
Beaubien,  Rev.  J.  J.  Roberts,  D.D.,  and  Rev.  Robert  Lowrey, 
incumbent. 

Assistant  ministers  during  the  present  rectorship  have 
been  Rev.  Nathaniel  P.  Richardson,  D.D.,  Rev.  John  F.  But- 
terworth,  Rev.  John  Brainard  Morgan,  Rev.  Christopher  B. 
Wyatt,  D.D.,  Rev.  Frank  L.  Norton,  Rev.  Joseph  P.  Jowett, 
Rev.  Mytton  Maury,  D.D.,  Rev.  John  Anketell,  Rev.  Fred- 
erick Courtney,  D.D.,  and  Rev.  Alexander  Mackay-Smith. 

ST.  MARY'S  CHURCH,  MANHATTANVILLE. 

The  first  Divine  worship  at  Manhattanville,  according  to 
the  Liturgy  of  the  Church,  was  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop 
Hobart,  D.D.,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Jarvis.  The  services  were 
held  in  a  building  used  as  an  academy  by  Mr.  Francis  Finlay. 
In  1820,  the  occasional  services  resulted  in  the  appointment 
of  Mr.  Thomas  I.  Croshon  as  a  lay  reader,  and  his  services 
were  continued  until  1824,  when  he  became  a  candidate  for 
Holy  Orders. 

In  1823,  Rev.  William  Richmond  performed  some  clerical 


262  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

duties  for  the  congregation,  and  the  parish  was  duly  incor- 
porated. The  Rev.  William  Richmond  was  elected  rector, 
and  a  resolution  was  passed  to  open  a  free  parish  school,  and 
to  admit  all  denominations.  The  next  May  (1824)  Mr.  Jacob 
Schieffelin  donated  lots  numbers  105  and  107  and  ten  feet  of 
103  on  Lawrence  Street,  the  present  site  of  St.  Mary's 
Church,  for  the  erection  of  a  church  edifice. 

In  May,  1827,  Mr.  Richmond  resigned,  and  Rev.  Mr. 
Croshon  succeeded  him.  During  this  year  (1827)  the  church 
was  so  far  completed  that  the  pews  were  rented.  October 
29,  1828,  Rev.  Wm.  Richmond  was  unanimously  elected  rec- 
tor of  St.  Mary's,  and  to  this  date  there  is  no  record  in  the 
register  of  any  baptism,  confirmation,  marriage,  or  the  name 
of  any  person  as  a  communicant.  June  I,  1829,  the  Rev. 
George  L.  Hinton  was  elected  assistant  minister,  with  salary 
of  $100.  The  following  April  13,  1830,  Rev.  Mr.  Hinton  re- 
signed. This  year  Trinity  Church  appropriated  $300  annually 
towards  the  salary  of  the  rector.  In  1836,  the  Rev.  James 
C.  Richmond  was  elected  assistant  minister,  and  the  next 
year  (1837)  William  Richmond  resigned  the  charge,  and  the 
Rev.  James  C.  Richmond  was  elected  rector,  and  so  continued 
until  1840  or  '41. 

In  1843  tne  Rev-  William  Richmond  was  re-elected  rec- 
tor, and  continued  so  until  1852,  when  he  resigned,  but  the 
resignation  was  not  accepted  until  February,  1853.  In  1853 
the  Rev.  J.  M.  C.  Peters  was  elected  rector.  It  appears  from 
the  minutes  that  he  had  assisted  in  the  parish  from  1847. 

The  Rev.  Geo.  L.  Neide  appears  to  have  done  some  duties 
in  the  parish  from  1851,  but  in  1853  he  was  elected  assist- 
ant minister,  and  continued  so  until  1854.  In  1858  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Peters  resigned  the  rectorship,  and  in  1859  tne  Rev- 
Chas.  F.  Rodenstein  was  chosen  rector.  In  1861  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Rodenstein  having  absented  himself  from  the  parish  for 
three  months,  the  vestry  declared  the  rectorship  vacant,  and 
elected  the  Rev.  George  Fox  Seymour  rector.  In  1862  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Seymour  resigned,  and  Mr.  Rodenstein  was  re- 
elected and  declined,  and  in  November,  1862,  the  Rev. 
Charles  C.  Adams,  the  present  rector,  was  elected. 


PARISH    HISTORIES.  263 

The  first  baptisms  on  the  register  were  in  1829;  the  last 
one  was  February  21,  1886;  total,  921.  The  first  confirma- 
tion in  the  church  was  June,  1832  ;  the  last  one  was  May  24, 
1885  ;  total,  354.  The  first  communicant  recorded  was  in 
1832  ;  the  last  one  on  the  register  was  February,  1866;  total, 

541. 

For  more  than  twenty-three  years  the  church  has  been 

supported  as  a  free  church,  with  weekly  communion  and 
daily  service,  by  the  offertory,  and  $200  stipend  from  Trinity 
Church,  without  pew  rents,  or  subscriptions,  or  envelopes, 
and  without  a  dollar's  debt  remaining. 

And  the  present  rector  cannot  close  his  report  without 
expressing  his  gratitude  to  the  present  wardens,  R.  L. 
Schieffelin  and  Daniel  F.  Tiemann,  for  their  liberality  to  him- 
self and  their  ready  help  in  the  improvements  and  good 
works  in  the  parish. 

The  wardens  in  1823  were:  Valentine  Mott  and  Jacob 
Schieffelin  ;  in  1862,  Richard  L.  Schieffelin  and  James  Pun- 
nett ;  and  in  1886,  Richard  L.  Schieffelin  and  Daniel  F. 
Tieman. 

From  an  address  by  Rev.  Dr.  Peters,  in  St.  Mary's,  on  its 
semi-centennial,  December,  1873,  the  following  particulars  are 
quoted  : 

"  Of  the  families  connected  with  the  church  at  its  organ- 
ization, two  only  have  maintained  their  connection  through- 
out its  whole  history. 

"  Mr.  Jacob  Schieffelin,  who  was  the  founder  of  the 
parish,  gave  the  land  on  which  the  church  and  parsonage 
were  built,  and  a  pew  is  yet  known  as  the  Schieffelin  pew, 
and  is  occupied  by  the  organ  ;  and  a  vault,  containing  the  re- 
mains of  himself  and  wife  and  several  descendants,  is  in  front 
of  the  church.  A  beautiful  memorial  window  of  husband  and 
wife  was  erected  by  their  son,  Gen.  Richard  L.  Schieffelin, 
shedding  its  light  into  the  Schieffelin  pew. 

"  Gen.  R.  L.  Schieffelin  has  been  fifty  years  a  member  of 
the  vestry,  and  a  large  part  of  the  time  senior  warden,  and 
since  1824  annually  a  delegate  to  the  Diocesan  Convention, 
and  his  son,  Geo.  R.   Schieffelin,  was  elected  vestryman  in 


264  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

1870,  and  during  the  present  rectorship  adults  and  infants  of 
four  generations  of  Mr.  Jacob  Schieffelin  have  been  baptized 
in  the  church. 

"  The  other  family  worshiping  for  fifty  years  in  the 
church  is  a  colored  one  named  Nichols.  Several  members  of 
the  fifth  generation  have  been  confirmed  during  the  present 
rectorship. 

"Among  the  departed  benefactors  of  the  church,  and  the 
first  on  the  list  of  communicants  (1829),  was  Mrs.  Francis 
Finlay.  She  had  passed  a  half  century  of  life  when  the 
church  was  organized,  and  survived  several  years  into  the 
present  rectorship,  and  by  will  left  several  hundred  dollars 
legacy  to  the  church  as  an  endowment  for  the  rector's  salary. 

"  Mrs.  Ann  Fortune,  who  had  been  for  more  than  thirty 
years  a  devout  communicant  in  St.  Mary's  Church,  at  the 
time  of  her  death  also  bequeathed  by  her  will,  during  the 
present  rectorship,  $500,  the  interest  to  be  devoted  to  the 
rector's  salary.  Mr.  Henry  Muller,  formerly  a  Roman  Cath- 
olic, became  a  communicant  during  the  present  rectorship, 
died  in  St.  Luke's  Hospital,  and  left  some  four  hundred 
dollars  as  an  endowment  toward  the  rector's  salary. 

"  In  1885  the  vestry  sold  lands  adjoining  the  church  for 
five  or  six  thousand  dollars,  which  is  well  invested  for  sup- 
port of  the  church. 

"  St.  Mary's  was  probably  the  first  free  church  in  the  city. 
For  a  short  time  some  pews  were  rented,  but  in  1833  the  an- 
nual report  to  the  Convention  said:  'There  are  no  pew 
rents,'  and  it  is  probable  there  were  none  after  183 1.  And 
for  twenty-three  years  of  the  present  rectorship  it  has  con- 
tinued a  free  church,  supported  by  free-will  offerings. 

"  At  one  time  the  services  in  St.  Mary's  were  held  only  on 
Sunday  evening,  Trinity  stipend  was  withdrawn,  and  in  1842 
the  whole  receipts  from  the  offertory  were  but  $16  for  the 
year.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Richmond  bore  all  the  expenses  until 
the  close  of  1850,  when  the  amount  was  $6,696,  which  he 
generously  relinquished. 

"  The  church  edifice  was  once  sold  for  taxes,  and  bought 
in  by  Gen.  R.  L.  Schieffelin,  and  presented  to  the  vestry. 


PARISH    HISTORIES.  265 

He  also  obtained  $1,100  from  Trinity  towards  the  assessments 
on  the  church,  and  has  contributed  liberally  for  many  im- 
provements and  repairs." 

GRACE   CHURCH,  WHITE  PLAINS, 

Was  organized  March  22,  1824.  The  first  church  was  com- 
pleted June  19,  1826.  and  the  present  edifice  was  completed 
in  July,  1865.  The  rectors  have  been  Rev.  William  Cooper 
Mead,  1824-1826;  Rev.  Alexander  H.  Crosby,  1 826-1 828  ; 
Rev.  John  W.  Curtis,  1828-183 1 ;  Rev.  Robert  Wilson  Harris, 
D.D.,  1831-1855  ;  Rev.  Theodore  Sill  Rumney,  D.D.,  1855- 
1870;  and  the  present  rector,  Rev.  Frederick  B.  Van  Kleeck, 
since  May  1,  1870.  Since  organization  there  have  been  1,040 
baptisms  recorded,  and  545  have  received  confirmation.  The 
number  of  communicants  in  1826  was  28;  in  1834,  50;  in 
1844,  51  ;  in  1854,90;  in  1864,  120;  in  1874,  193;  in  1884, 
199,  and  the  present  number  is  207.  By  decades,  the  war- 
dens, in  1824,  were  Richard  Jarvis  and  Allan  MacDonald  ;  in 
1834,  the  same  ;  in  1844,  Joshua  Horton  and  Richard  Jarvis; 
in  1854,  the  same;  in  1864,  Joshua  Horton  and  Elisha  Hor- 
ton; in  1874,  Elisha  Horton  and  Myndert  M.  Fisher,  and 
in  1884,  Myndert  M.  Fisher  and  Eugene  L.  Prud'homme. 
As  early  as  1724,  Rev.  Mr.  Jenney,  rector  of  Christ  Church, 
Rye,  gave  a  portion  of  his  time  in  holding  services  in  White 
Plains.  Upon  the  nth  of  April,  1784,  Mr.  Andrew  Fowler 
collected  the  congregation  at  White  Plains,  and  continued  to 
officiate  as  lay  reader  both  there  and  at  Rye,  until  Rev.  R. 
C.  Moore  (afterwards  Bishop  of  Virginia)  was  appointed  rec- 
tor in  1787.  In  January,  1788,  the  people  of  White  Plains 
and  Rye  united  in  the  erection  of  a  new  church  edifice  at  the 
latter  place,  and  the  connection  between  the  two  places  con- 
tinued until  1816.  From  1816  to  1823  occasional  services 
were  held  in  White  Plains  by  the  neighboring  clergy. 

ALL  SAINTS'  CHURCH,  NEW  YORK, 

Was  organized  May  27,  1824.  The  corner-stone  was  laid 
October  3,  1827;  the  church  was  completed  in  1829,  conse- 
crated June  5,  1828,  and  enlarged  in  1849.     The  rectors  have 


266  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

been  :  Rev.  Wm.  Atwater  Clark,  1 824-1 837  ;  Rev.  Benjamin  I. 
Haight,  D.D.,  1837-1846;  Rev.  Wm.  E.  Eigenbrodt,  D.D., 
1846-1857;  Rev.  Edward  O.  Flagg,  D.D.,  1858-1861  ;  Rev. 
Edward  Cuthbert  Barclay,  1861-1862;  Rev.  Samuel  J.  Cor- 
neille,  1863-1871  ;  and  since  1871  Rev.  William  N.  Dunnell, 
present  incumbent.  A  rectory  was  procured  in  1872,  by  re- 
modeling the  parish  school-house,  which  was  built  during  the 
ministry  of  Dr.  Haight.  The  parish  records  have  a  break  of 
seven  and  one-half  years.  They  contain  record  of  3,102  bap- 
tisms, and  of  1,103  wno  have  received  confirmation.  The 
present  number  of  communicants  is  about  466.  There  is  no 
record  of  wardens  previous  to  1845.  In  tnat  year  Jonn  B. 
Hunter  held  the  office  ;  in  1855,  P.  Hanford  and  John  Miller ; 
in  1865,  Wilson  Small  and  John  Mowbrey ;  in  1875,  Wilson 
Small  and  W.  Plumb,  and  the  same  gentlemen  in  1885.  It 
should  be  noted  that  from  1824  to  1871,  a  period  of  forty- 
seven  years,  there  were  1,914  baptisms ;  while  from  1871  to 
1886,  a  period  of  fifteen  years,  there  were  1,188  baptisms;  and 
that  while  there  were  624  persons  confirmed  in  the  forty-seven 
years  after  organization,  there  were  459  persons  confirmed 
during  the  last  fifteen  years. 

CHURCH  OF  THE  ASCENSION,  NEW  YORK* 

No  report  having  been  received  from  this  parish,  such 
data  are  presented  as  may  be  gathered  from  the  Convention 
Journals.  This  parish  was  admitted  into  union  with  the  Con- 
vention in  1827.  In  that  year  Rev.  Manton  Eastburn  ap- 
pears in  the  list  of  diocesan  clergy  as  rector  of  the  Church  of 
the  Ascension.  He  continued  until  1843,  when  Rev.  Gregory 
T.  Bedell,  D.D.,  became  rector,  his  predecessor  having  been 
elected  to  the  bishopric  of  Massachusetts.  Dr.  Bedell  having 
been  elected  to  the  bishopric  of  Ohio,  he  was  succeeded  in 
1861  by  Rev.  John  Cotton  Smith,  D.D.,  who  remained  in  the 
rectorship  until  1881.  In  1882  Rev.  E.  Winchester  Donald 
became  rector  and  is  present  incumbent,  and  in  1885,  Rev. 
H.  Dyer,  D.D.,  Rev.  John  F.  Steen,  and  Rev.  E.  H.  Van 
Winkle  are  mentioned  as  his  assistants.  The  wardens  are 
James  M.  Brown  and  D.  F.  Appleton.     In   1885,  there  were 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  267 

254  baptized,  96  confirmed,  and  1,206  communicants.  These 
statistics  include  Ascension  Chapel,  330  West  Forty-third 
Street.  There  is  a  rectory  adjoining  the  church,  and  both 
are  of  stone.  The  interior  of  the  church  was  remodeled  last 
summer  ;  new  chancel  arrangements  effected  ;  the  side  galler- 
ies removed,  and  the  church  greatly  beautified. 

ST.  ANDREW'S  CHURCH,  NEW  YORK, 

Was  organized  February  14,  1829.  The  first  church  was 
built  and  opened  June  7,  1830,  and  the  present  edifice,  No- 
vember 30,  1873.  The  rectors  have  been,  Rev.  George  L. 
Hinton,  1 829-1832  ;  Rev.  Abram  Hart,  1833-1840;  Rev. 
James  R.  Bailey  (afterward  Roman  Catholic,  and  Archbishop 
of  Baltimore),  184C-1842  ;  Rev.  R.  M.  Abercrombie,  S.T.D., 
1846-1850;  Rev.  George  B.  Draper,  S.T.D.,  1850  until  his 
decease  in  1876;  Rev.  Samuel  Earp,  1877-1879,  and  since 
1879,  Rev.  Francis  Lobdell,  S.T.D.,  present  incumbent.  The 
rector's  assistants  are  Rev.  H.  B.  Hitchings  and  Rev.  E.  H. 
Cleveland.  A  spacious  and  thoroughly  appointed  Sunday 
school  and  parish  building,  adjoining  the  church  and  har- 
monizing with  it  architecturally,  was  built  during  the  rector- 
ship of  Dr.  Draper,  as  was  the  church.  The  number  of  bap- 
tisms recorded  is  2,257,  and  823  have  received  confirmation. 
The  number  of  communicants  in  1835  was  30;  in  1845,39; 
in  1855,  56;  in  1865,  207;  in  1875,  351,  and  in  1885,  875. 
The  present  number  is  895.  The  wardens  in  1829  were 
Charles  Henry  Hall  and  John  Rook;  in  1835,  Charles  Henry 
Hall  and  E.  R.  Jones;  in  1845,  Jacob  Lorillard  and  Abel  T. 
Anderson;  in  1885,  J.  W.  Hartman  and  C.  G.  Bunnell;  in 
1865,  Edward  H.  Jacob  and  B.  C.  Paddock  ;  in  1875,  Miln 
P.  Dayton  and  L.  Bailey,  and  in  1885,  Charles  C.  Tyler  and 
Morris  Wilkins.  The  church  is  a  Gothic  structure  in  gray 
stone,  admirable  in  its  proportions,  after  plans  by  Henry  M. 
Congdon,  and  is  among  the  most  effective  and  completely 
appointed  churches  in  the  diocese. 


268  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

ST.  CLEMENT'S  CHURCH,  NEW  YORK. 

This  parish  was  organized  July  26,  1 830.  The  corner- 
stone was  laid  July  29,  1830,  and  the  church  completed  and 
consecrated  May  5,  1831.  Much  pecuniary  assistance  was 
rendered  to  the  parish  by  the  Hon.  Samuel  Bayard,  of  New 
Jersey,  father  of  its  first  rector.  The  rectors  have  been  :  Rev. 
Lewis  Pintard  Bayard,  D.D.,  1830,  died  September  2,  1840; 
Rev.  Edward  N.  Mead,  D.D.,  1841-1847;  Rev.  Caleb  S. 
Henry,  D.D.,  1847-1850,  and  Rev.  Theodore  A.  Eaton,  D.D., 
since  December,  1850,  rector  of  the  parish.  There  are  re- 
corded, 1,833  baptisms,  and  775  have  received  confirmation. 
The  present  number  of  communicants  is  175.  The  wardens  in 
1830  were:  Frederick  Babcock  and  Benjamin  Hide;  in  1840, 
William  S.  Popham  and  William  I.  Lane;  in  1850,  George 
Draper  and  Sinclair  Tousey  ;  in  i860,  George  Draper  and 
George  Buckley,  Jr.  ;  in  1870,  John  Buckley,  Jr.,  and  Peter  J. 
Shults,  and  in  1880,  Eugene  Dutilh  and  Peter  J.  Shults. 

When  St.  Clement's  Church  was  built  it  was  surrounded 
by  the  private  residences  of  many  of  the  most  respectable  and 
wealthy  families  of  New  York,  some  of  whom  were  its  par- 
ishioners. About  thirty-seven  years  ago,  a  movement  of  the 
population  towards  the  upper  part  of  the  city  began,  and  has 
been  going  on  ever  since  ;  the  effect  of  which  has  been  to 
weaken  the  parish  numerically  and  financially.  The  former 
homes  of  these  families  have  become  either  factories,  stores, 
restaurants,  liquor  saloons,  or  tenement  houses.  The  present 
population  consists  largely  of  foreigners,  chiefly  French,  Ger- 
mans, and  Italians  ;  a  class  of  people  whom  the  Church  can 
reach,  if  she  reach  them  at  all,  only  by  missionaries  speaking 
their  respective  languages.  The  vacancies  in  the  congrega- 
tion occasioned  by  the  death  or  removal  of  former  parish- 
ioners, able  to  support  the  church,  are  not  filled  with  others 
of  like  ability ;  and  it  is  probable  that  the  parish  would  have 
long  since  died,  but  for  a  small  endowment  bequeathed  to 
it,  some  forty  years  ago,  by  one  of  its  communicants.  At  no 
time  has  the  revenue  been  sufficient  for  the  current  expenses. 

These  changes  are  the  chief  causes  of  the  serious  difficul- 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  269 

ties  under  which  St.  Clement's  is  now  laboring ;  namely, 
diminished  and  constantly  diminishing  revenue  and  the  de- 
preciation in  value  of  the  site  of  the  church  edifice,  with  no 
prospect  of  any  change  for  the  better  in  either  of  these  re- 
respects  ;  while  its  unfavorable  locality,  on  a  narrow  street, 
closely  shut  in  by  adjacent  buildings,  and  the  disturbance  of 
the  services  by  the  incessant  passing  of  the  cars  of  both  an 
elevated  and  a  surface  railway,  within  twenty  feet  of  its  doors, 
must  prevent  St.  Clement's  Church  from  ever  being  an  at- 
tractive place  of  worship,  and  prove  serious  obstacles  to  its 
growth  and  prosperity.  For  all  these  reasons  the  outlook,  as 
regards  its  future,  is  very  discouraging. 

ST.  PETER'S  CHURCH,  NEW  YORK. 

This  parish  was  incorporated  May  9,  1831.  The  first 
church  was  consecrated  February  4,  1832,  and  the  present 
edifice,  February  22,  1838.  The  rectors  have  been  Rev.  Ben- 
jamin I.  Haight,  D.D.,  1831-1834;  Rev.  Thomas  Pyne,  1834- 
1836;  Rev.  Hugh  Smith,  D.D.,  1836-1848;  Rev.  E.  H.  Can- 
field,  D.D.,  1850-1852,  and  Rev.  Alfred  B.  Beach,  D.D.,  since 

1853,  and  present  incumbent.  A  rectory  was  built  on  grounds 
adjoining  the  church  in  1839.  Two  large  buildings  for  Sun- 
day school  and  other  parish  uses  have  been  erected,  one  in 

1854,  and  the  other  in  1870,  during  the  rectorship  of  Dr. 
Beach.  The  number  of  baptisms  recorded  is  5,416,  and  1,648 
persons  have  received  confirmation.  The  present  number  of 
communicants  is  480.  The  wardens  in  1831  were:  Reuben 
Spencer  and  Clement  C.  Moore;  in  1841,  Clement  C.  Moore 
and  James  N.  Wells  ;  in  185 1,  Joseph  Tucker  and  James  N. 
Wells;  in  1861,  Morris  Franklin  and  Frederick  W.Welch- 
man;  in  1871,  James  N.  Wells  and  George  P.  Quackenbos, 
LL.D.,  and  in  1881,  George  P.  Quackenbos,  LL.D.,  and  E. 
Holbrook  Cushman. 

TRINITY  CHURCH,  SAUGERTIES, 

Was  organized  in  February,  1 831,  and  the  church  was  built 
during  the  same  year.  The  succession  of  rectors  stands  as 
follows:  the  Rev.  Reuben  Sherwood,  1831-1835  ;  Rev.  Cicero 


27O  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

S.  Hawks,  1835-1837;  Rev.  Ravaud  Kearney,  1837-1838; 
Rev.  Hiram  Adams,  1838-1848  ;  Rev.  Edwin  A.  Nichols,  1848- 
1856;  Rev.  William  J.  Lynd,  1856-1859  ;  Rev.  John  Jacob 
Robertson,  1 859-1 880,  and  Rev.  Thomas  Cole,  1880,  present 
incumbent.  The  first  rectory  was  built  in  1831.  A  new  one 
was  provided  in  1884.  A  Sunday-school  room  was  added  in 
1875,  during  the  rectorship  of  Dr.  Robertson.  Since  organiza- 
tion, 722  have  received  baptism,  and  262  have  been  confirmed. 
The  present  number  of  communicants  is  126.  The  wardens 
in  183 1  were:  Henry  Barclay  and  John  W.  Kearney;  in  1841, 
Henry  Barclay  and  Stephen  Kellogg;  in  185 1,  Henry  Barclay 
and  John  W.  Kearney;  1861,  Dr.  John  Goldsmith  and  Cor- 
nelius Battelle ;  in  1871,  Cornelius  Battelle  and  Hobart 
Bogardus,  and  in  1881,  the  same. 

ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH,  KINGSTON* 

This  parish  was  admitted  into  union  with  the  Convention 
in  1832.  The  rector  in  1885  was  Rev.  C.  William  Camp,  and 
the  wardens,  Charles  D.  Bruyn  and  Edward  Winter  ;  there 
were  269  communicants. 

ST.  PAUL'S  CHURCH,  CASTLETON, 

Was  organized  March  11,  1833.  The  first  church  edifice  was 
opened  July  3,  1834.  The  present  edifice  was  completed  and 
opened  September  29,  1866.  The  rectors  have  been  :  Rev. 
Francis  H.  Cuming,  1833-1834;  Rev.  Wm.  P.  Custis,  Au- 
gust 1,  1834,  and  died  August  21  ;  Rev.  Wm.  H.  Walter, 
1835-1838;  Rev.  Amos  D.  McCoy,  1839,  October  1-9;  Rev. 
Wm.  Walton,  1839-1843;  Rev.  Gordon  Winslow,  1844-1852; 
Rev.  Charles  A.  Maison,  1852-1857;  Rev.  John  W.  Moore, 
1859,  February  24  to  September  13;  Rev.  Edward  H.  Cressey, 
D.D.,  1859-1861  ;  Rev.  Thomas  W.  Punett,  1861-1875 ; 
Rev.  Charles  B.  Coffin,  1875,  May  23,  died,  July  9  ;  Rev.  Al- 
bert U.  Stanley,  1875-1882,  and  since  July  1,  1882,  Rev. 
Henry  N.  Wayne,  present  incumbent. 

An  admirable  stone  rectory  was  built  on  the  church 
grounds  in  1866,  during  the  rectorship  of  Rev.  T.  W.  Pu- 
nett.    Since  organization,   1,705   baptisms  are  recorded,  and 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  271 

664  have  received  confirmation.  The  present  number  of 
communicants  is  276.  The  wardens,  by  decades,  have  been  : 
Henry  Drisler  and  Richard  Cary  in  1833;  Archibald  Gordon 
and  Caleb  T.  Ward,  in  1843  ;  George  Catlin  and  Albert  Ward 
in  1853  ;  Albert  Ward  and  John  T.  Hedley  in  1863;  Albert 
Ward  and  Samuel  Roosevelt  in  1873  ;  and  F.  U.  Johnston, 
M.D.,  and  R.  W.  Gordon  in  1883. 

As  stated  above,  the  original  title  of  the  parish  was  St. 
Paul's  Church,  Castleton.  In  1866,  the  then  senior  warden, 
Albert  Ward,  began  the  building  of  the  second  church  edifice 
as  a  memorial  to  a  sister.  Upon  its  completion  the  corpo- 
rate name  was  changed  to  St.  Paul's  Memorial  Church,  Edge- 
water.  The  parish  is  possessed  of  a  fine  stone  church,  Gothic 
in  design,  and  an  admirable  rectory  architecturally  in  keeping 
— both  occupying  a  generous  plot  of  ground  which  commands 
one  of  the  most  extensive  and  delightful  landscape  views  to 
be  had  on  Staten  Island.  It  is  most  advantageously  placed 
in  the  neighborhood  of  a  rapidly  growing  population,  which 
will  undoubtedly  be  greatly  increased  by  the  projected  im- 
provements lately  undertaken  for  opening  up  the  island  and 
promoting  both  settlement  and  commercial  enterprise. 

ST.  PETER'S  CHURCH,  LITHGOW, 

Was  organized  May  12,  1801.  The  first  edifice  was  built 
in  1833;  the  present  in  1 881,  to  which  a  recess  chancel  was 
added  in  1885. 

During  the  first  thirty-two  years  of  its  existence  the  church 
depended  upon  the  ministrations  of  neighboring  clergymen. 

The  Rev.  Hiram  Jelliff  was  rector,  1 834-1 841  ;  Sheldon 
Davis,  1841-1843;  Samuel  J.Evans,  1844-1846;  Homer  Whea- 
ton,  1847-1854;  Samuel  K.  Miller,  1855-1862;  Eugene  C.  Pat- 
tison,  1863-1868;  Joseph  E.  Lindholm,  1 869-1 872  ;  Henry 
N.  Wayne,  1872-1874;  John  C.  S.  Weills,  1876-1878;  Robert 

B.  Van  Kleeck,  1878;  John  Henry  Nimmo,  1878-1881  ;  John 

C.  S.  Weills,  1881  to  date. 

A  rectory  was  purchased  in  1866.  There  are  recorded  169 
baptisms  and  98  confirmed,  but  there  are  no  parish  records 
for  the  first  thirty-eight  years. 


272  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

In  1834  there  were  13  communicants;  in  1840,24;  in  1850, 
26;  in  i860,  22;  in  1870,  18;  in  1880,  19;  and  at  present  the 
number  is  44. 

The  wardens  were:  in  1801,  Elijah  Prindle  and  Ebenezer 
Benham  ;  in  1834,  John  Fitch  and  Elon  Northrop;  in  1840, 
John  Fitch  and  Lindley  Preston;  in  1850,  Cyrus  Hammond 
and  N.  H.  Haviland;  in  i860,  the  same;  in  1870,  Cyrus  Ham- 
mond, and  a  vacancy;  in  1880,  Homer  Fitch  and  Artemus 
E.  Sackett ;  and  in  1886,  the  same. 

This  is  one  of  the  oldest  religious  organizations  in  eastern 
Dutchess  County,  and  is  said  to  have  existed  under  royal 
charter.  The  Rev.  Philander  Chase,  subsequently  Bishop  of 
Ohio,  and  afterwards  of  Illinois,  but  then  rector  of  Christ 
Church,  Poughkeepsie,  held  occasional  services  in  the  vicinity 
of  Lithgow  in  1800  and  1801.  In  1806  an  acre  of  ground  was 
deeded  to  the  parish  by  David  Johnston,  for  the  erection  of 
a  church,  and  for  a  burial  place.  In  1832,  under  the  direction 
of  the  Rev.  G.  B.  Andrews,  then  rector  of  Zion's  Church, 
Wappinger's  Falls,  a  subscription  was  made  for  the  erection 
of  the  church,  which  took  place  in  1833.  This  was  destroyed 
by  fire  in  1880,  and  rebuilt  the  following  year.  The  old  site 
was  enlarged,  was  set  apart  for  a  burying  ground,  and  has 
been  placed  under  the  management  of  a  Cemetery  Committee, 
and  all  moneys  received  are  funded  and  allowed  to  accumu- 
late as  a  permanent  fund,  the  interest  of  which  shall  maintain 
the  grounds  in  proper  order.  In  1882  the  rectory  was 
remodeled,  enlarged,  and  improved.  During  the  past  year  a 
recess  chancel  has  been  added  to  the  church,  and  the  vestry 
room  has  been  more  than  doubled  in  size,  and  is  intended  as 
the  rector's  study,  as  well  as  a  robing  room.  A  window  has 
been  placed  in  the  chancel  in  memory  of  one  of  the  first 
wardens,  Mr.  John  Fitch,  and  his  wife. 

ZION  CHURCH,  WAPPINGER'S  FALLS. 
In  the   year   1820,  Mrs.  Mathew  Mesier   collected  a  few 
children  for  Christian  instruction,  and  the  first  meeting  place 
was  under  an  apple  tree  which  stood  on  the  ground  now  oc- 
cupied by  the  parish  building,  adjoining  the  church.     The 


PARISH    HISTORIES.  273 

corner-stone  of  a  church  was  laid,  and  two  years  after  was 
completed  and  consecrated  by  Bishop  Onderdonk.  The  date 
of  organization  is  not  given. 

In  1833,  the  Rev.  G.  B.  Andrews  assumed  charge  of  the 
parish,  laboring  with  steady  success  until  1865,  when  his  declin- 
ing health  and  burden  of  years  led  the  vestry  to  call  as  his  as- 
sistant Rev.  Henry  Y.  Satterlee.  August  20,  1875,  Dr.  Andrews 
entered  into  rest  in  his  ninetieth  year  and  the  forty-second 
of  his  rectorship.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Satterlee  was  made  rector 
September  3,  1875,  serving  with  great  faithfulness  the  spiritual 
interests  of  the  growing  parish,  opening  up  and  carrying  for- 
ward many  new  activities  which  have  become  permanent. 
After  a  ministry  of  seventeen  years,  he  was  called  to  Cal- 
vary Church,  New  York,  February  9,  1883.  The  present  in- 
cumbent, Rev.  J.  Nevett  Steele,  succeeded  to  the  rectorship. 

There  is  a  large  parish  building  for  Sunday-school  and 
parish  purposes.  It  is  expected  that  a  rectory  will  be  built 
during  the  current  year,  as  the  funds  are  collected  and  plans 
are  under  consideration. 

Since  organization  there  have  been  1,418  baptisms,  and 
782  have  received  confirmation.  The  present  number  of 
communicants  is  about  500. 

The  wardens  in  1833  were  :  Matthew  Mesier  and  Benjamin 
Clapp  ;  in  1846,  James  Ingham  and  Philip  Van  Rensselaer; 
in  1853,  Henry  Mesier  and  Philip  S.  Van  Rensselaer  ;  in  1862, 
Henry  Mesier  and  George  Barclay;  in  1875,  Henry  Mesier 
and  Josiah  Faulkner  ;  and  in  1885,  Irving  Grinnell  and  Henry 
Reese.     A  mission  is  sustained  at  New  Hamburgh. 

ZION  CHURCH,  GREENBURGH. 

This  parish  was  organized  October  14,  1833,  at  what  was 
then  named  Dobb's  Ferry.  The  church  was  built  and  con- 
secrated May  20,  1834.  It  was  enlarged  in  1854,  and  again 
in  1870.  The  rectors  have  been  :  Rev.  Alexander  H.  Crosby, 
1833-1834;  Rev.  Edward  N.  Mead,  1834-1836;  Rev.  William 
Creighton,  D.D.,  1836-1846;  Rev.  Grant  Heyer,  1847—185 1  ; 
Rev.  William  A.  McVickar,  missionary  in  charge  from  July  19, 
13 


274  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

1852,  and  rector,  1853-1859;  Rev.  J.  Henry  Williams,  1859- 
1865  ;  Rev.  George  Bickham  Reese,  1 865-1 885  ;  and  since 
July  1,  1885,  Rev.  Jacob  LeRoy  has  been  rector,  and  is 
present  incumbent.  A  rectory  was  purchased  in  1866  and 
enlarged  and  improved  in  1883.  Zion  Chapel,  at  Hastings- 
on-Hudson,  was  erected  during  the  ministry  of  Rev.  George 
B.  Reese.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  in  October,  1867,  and 
the  building  completed  in  the  summer  of  1868.  The  bap- 
tisms recorded  are  423,  and  201  have  received  confirmation. 
The  present  number  of  communicants  is  162.  The  names 
of  the  wardens  by  decades,  are:  in  1833,  Joseph  Howland 
and  Oscar  Irving;  in  1835,  Joseph  Howland  and  Vanbrugh 
Livingston;  in  1845,  Joseph  A.  Constant  and  E.  W.  Wal- 
grove  ;  in  1855,  E.  W.  Walgrove  and  Robert  B.  Minturn ;  in 
1865,  Shadrach  Taylor  and  Edwin  Croswell ;  in  1875,  Shad- 
rach  Taylor  and  John  B.  Kitching,  and  in  1885,  Augustine 
Smith  and  David  B.  Williamson. 

ST.  PAUL'S  CHURCH,  SING  SING, 

Was  organized  November  11,  1833,  and  the  church  was  built 
in  1835.  The  rectors  have  been  :  Rev.  Edward  N.  Mead, 
1834-1839;  Rev.  Charles  F.  Halsey,  1839-1846;  Rev.  Charles 
Tomes,  1846-1847;  Rev.  William  F.  Halsey,  1847-1856;  Rev. 
J.  H.  Black,  1857-1863  ;  Rev.  James  I.  Helm,  D.D.,  1863  to 
October  16,  1880,  when  he  died,  and  since  July  15,  1881, 
Rev.  A.  B.  Jennings,  now  rector.  The  rectory  was  built  in 
1864.  Since  organization,  921  baptisms  are  recorded,  and 
448  have  received  confirmation.  In  1833,  there  were  7 
communicants;  in  1843,73;  m  l853>  82  5  m  l863>  I20!  in 
1873,  178  ;  in  1883,  200,  and  the  present  number  is  225. 
The  wardens  at  the  organization  were :  Caleb  Bacon  and 
George  W.  Cartwright  ;  in  1844,  John  Strong  and  Samuel  C. 
Nichols;  in  1854,  Samuel  C.  Nichols  and  John  Strong;  in 
1864,  John  Strong  and  Samuel  C.  Nichols;  in  1874,  Samuel 
C.  Nichols  and  Marcius  L.  Cobb,  and  in  1884,  Marcius  L. 
Cobb  and  John  W.  Mulholland. 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  275 

ST.  PAUL'S  CHURCH,  POUGHKEEPSIE, 

Was  organized,  September  28,  1835.  The  first  edifice  was 
completed  June,  1837  ;  and  the  second  was  erected  and  con- 
secrated in  1873. 

The  first  rector  was  the  Rev.  T.  W.  Hatch,  who  entered 
upon  his  duties  in  June,  1836,  and  resigned  October,  1842.. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Hart  ministered  in  the  parish  until  the  Rev. 
Philip  E.  Milledoler  became  rector  at  Easter,  1843.  He  re- 
signed in  July,  1845,  an<3  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Albert  D. 
Traver,  D.D.,  September,  1845,  assuming  the  duty  November 
1,  1846.  He  resigned  November  I,  1866.  -February  24,  1867, 
Rev.  Stephen  H.  Synnott  became  rector,  and  resigned  April 
8,  1885.  The  present  incumbent,  Rev.  Frank  Heathfield,  was 
made  rector  May  1,  1885. 

A  rectory  was  purchased  in  1863.  There  is  an  admirable 
Sunday-school  building  connected  with  the  church,  erected  in 
1883,  during  the  ministry  of  Rev.  S.  H.  Synnott.  The  state 
of  the  parish  records  makes  it  impossible  to  give  the  number 
of  communicants  by  decades,  and  there  is  no  existing  record 
of  baptisms,  confirmations  and  communicants  for  the  first 
eight  years  of  parish  history,  i.  e.,  from  1835  to  l&43-  Since 
the  latter  date  there  are  902  baptisms  recorded,  and  464 
have  received  confirmation.  The  present  number  of  com- 
municants is  275. 

In  1840  the  wardens  were:  John  Delafield  and  George  P. 
Oakley;  in  1850,  Samuel  Currie  and  Jacob  Bockee;  in  i860, 
Samuel  Currie  and  Elias  Trivett ;  in  1870,  Jacob  Bockee, 
M.D.,  and  Winthrop  Atwill ;  in  1880,  Jacob  Bockee,  M.D., 
and  George  B.  Lent;  in  1886,  Joseph  M.  Cleaveland,  M.D., 
and  Robert  F.  Wilkinson. 

The  church  is  situated  at  the  center  of  a  populous  district, 
quite  a  distance  from  any  other  church  edifice.  It  stands 
overlooking  a  large,  well-wooded  square,  thrown  open  to  the 
public,  the  deeds  for  which  rest  in  the  vestry  of  St.  Paul's. 
The  church  is  Gothic  in  design,  admirably  built  of  stone, 
with  sittings  for  400.  Several  mural  tablets  and  excellent 
stained  windows  adorn  the  interior.    The  large  chancel  window 


276  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

commemorates  the  life  and  ministry  of  Rev.  Albert  D. 
Traver,  D.D.,  rector  from  1846  to  1866. 

The  Sunday-school  building,  which  is  partly  two  stories 
in  height,  and  remarkable  for  the  beauty  of  its  windows  and 
interior  wood-work,  will  accommodate  about  250  scholars,  be- 
sides furnishing  ample  rooms  for  the  library  and  the  infant 
class.  This  is  a  gift  to  the  parish  from  the  munificent  bounty 
of  Mrs.  Cornelia  D.  Atwill,  who  also  provided  a  very  large 
part  of  the  cost  of  the  new  church.  The  ministry  of  the 
Rev.  S.  H.  Synnott  (1867-188  5)  was  signalized  by  the  erection 
of  all  the  present  edifices — a  complete  and  beautiful  pro- 
vision for  all  parish  work. 

On  the  28th  of  September,  1885,  this  parish  completed 
the  first  half  century  of  its  existence,  and  on  Thanksgiving 
Day  of  the  same  year  Dr.  Jacob  Bockee,  senior  warden,  entered 
into  rest.  He  was  connected  with  the  parish  almost  from  its 
organization,  having  entered  its  vestry  in  1844. 

ST.  BARTHOLOMEW'S  CHURCH,  NEW  YORK* 

This  parish  was  admitted  into  union  with  the  Convention 
of  the  diocese  in  1835.  At  that  time  Rev.  Charles  V.  Kelly 
was  rector  and  there  were  71  communicants.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Rev.  Lewis  P.  W.  Balch,  who  first  reported  as 
rector  in  the  diocesan  Journal  of  1838.  In  the  Journal  for 
1851  Rev.  Samuel  Cooke  is  first  mentioned  as  rector  and  has 
remained  in  the  position  until  the  present.  The  diocesan 
report  for  1885  is  as  follows:  "  Rev.  Samuel  Cooke,  D.D., 
rector;  Rev.  Frederick  Clampett,  assistant  minister.  Families 
and  parts  of  families,  240;  number  of  souls,  1,000.  Baptisms, 
7;  marriages,  7;  burials,  10;  communicants,  450."  There  are 
no  other  data  available.  The  old  church  stood  near  the 
lower  end  of  Lafayette  Place,  east  side.  About  ten  years 
ago  the  parish  removed  to  the  new  and  costly  edifice  on 
Madison  Avenue,  corner  of  Forty-fourth  Street.  There  is  a 
rectory  adjoining  the  church ;  both  are  of  stone,  and  there  is 
no  debt  on  the  estate. 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  277 

CALVARY  CHURCH,  NEW  YORK. 

This  parish  was  organized  in  1835.  The  first  church  was 
built  in  1835-6,  removed  and  enlarged  in  1841.  The  pres- 
ent edifice  was  completed  in  1847,  the  corner-stone  having 


been  laid  March  10,  1846.  The  rectors  have  been  :  Rev. 
Thomas  C.  Dapont,  who  officiated  before  the  organization, 
continued  as  rector  until  1837;  Rev.  Francis  H.  Cummings, 
1837-1838  ;  Rev.  Charles  Jones,  1839-1842  ;  Rev.  Samuel  L. 
Southard,  1844-1850;  Rev.  J.  M.  Wainwright,  D.D.,  rec- 
tor elect,  officiated  for  six  months  in  1850 ;  Rev.  Francis 
L.  Hawks,  D.D.,  1851-1863  ;  Rev.  A.  Cleveland  Coxe,  D.D., 
1863-1865,  until  his  election  to  the  episcopate  of  Western 
New  York;  Rev.  E.  A.  Washburne,  D.D.,  1865,  until  his 
decease  in  1882  ;  and  since  1882,  Rev.  Henry  Y.  Satterlee, 
D.D.,  present  incumbent.  A  rectory  was  built  in  1847,  an<^ 
afterwards  purchased  by  the  church  in  1854.  A  Sunday- 
school  chapel  of  stone  was  built  adjoining  the  church  in  1867, 
Dr.  Washburne  rector. 

A  chapel  was  built  on  Twenty-third  Street,  east  of  Third 
Avenue,  in  1859,  during  the  rectorship  of  Dr.  Hawks,  and 
placed  under  the  pastoral  charge  of  Rev.  James  Souverain 
Purdy,  D.D.,  who  afterwards  became  rector  of  St.  James' 
Church,  Hyde  Park.  The  chapel  was  sold  and  a  new  and 
costly  edifice  built  on  the  same  street,  nearly  opposite  the  site 
of  the  old  chapel,  during  the  rectorship  of  Dr.  Washburne. 
The  Rev.  Wm.  D.  Walker  assumed  charge,  and  remained  a 
most  successful  pastor  until  his  elevation  to  the  episcopate  of 
the  missionary  jurisdiction  of  North  Dakota,  in  1883.  It  is 
worthy  of  remark  that  nearly  one-half  of  the  baptisms  and 
confirmations  reported  by  Calvary  Church  belong  to  the  sta- 
tistics of  Calvary  Chapel.  The  number  of  baptisms  recorded 
— of  which  1,276  were  at  Calvary  Chapel — is  2,595,  and  1,587 
have  received  confirmation,  774  of  these  in  Calvary  Chapel. 


278  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

In  1838  there  were  40  communicants;  in  1840,  43  ;  in  1850, 
500  ;  in  i860,  630,  and  70  at  the  chapel ;  in  1879,  437?  an^  425 
at  the  chapel ;  in  1880,  500,  and  450  at  the  chapel.  At  pres- 
ent there  are  628,  and  512  at  the  chapel,  making  a  total  of 
1,140.  These  statistics  are  necessarily  incomplete,  and  do 
not  fully  represent  the  clerical  acts  in  the  parish,  as  many 
omissions  must  be  attributed  to  vacancies  in  the  pastorate 
and  deaths  of  rectors.  In  1836  the  wardens  were:  Henry  J. 
Seaman  and  James  F.  Fitch,  M.D. ;  in  1846,  Philip  R.  Kear- 
ney and  Joseph  D.  Beers;  in  1856-8,  Thomas  J.  Oakley  and 
James  A.  Burke;  in  1866-70,  George  Merritt  and  William 
Niblo  ;  and  afterwards,  Frederick  S.  Winston  and  Daniel 
Huntington. 

In  1884  this  parish  extended  its  missionary  labors  in  the 
same  direction,  planting  the  Galilee  Mission  at  401  East 
Twenty-third  Street.  The  first  service  was  held  November 
4th,  and  the  work  is  under  Rev.  B.  T.  Hutchins,  who  has  the 
co-operation  of  two  lay  readers.  It  was  organized  for  a 
special  purpose.  Its  services  are  mainly  for  that  unfortunate 
class  who,  from  vice  and  intemperance,  are  never  seen  at 
church.     Results  are  already  positive  and  encouraging. 

During  its  earlier  history  this  parish  experienced  troubled 
fortunes,  and  it  was  not  until  the  rectorship  of  Dr.  Hawks 
that  its  heavy  burden  of  debts  was  extinguished,  and  its  exist- 
ence and  subsequent  prosperity  assured.  Its  pulpit  has  been 
filled  with  a  succession  of  learned  and  eloquent  preachers, 
some  of  whom  have  gained  wide  celebrity.  Three  of  them 
were  afterwards  raised  to  the  episcopate,  and  yet  another 
from  the  pastorate  of  Calvary  Chapel.  The  parish  at  present 
is  thoroughly  organized  for  efficient  work,  and  abounds  with 
guilds,  societies,  and  beneficent  agencies.  It  has  taken  a 
specially  active  part  in  the  promotion  of  the  Church  Temper- 
ance Society.  The  total  expenditures  of  the  parish,  as  stated 
in  the  last  Journal  of  the  Convention,  for  the  last  year,  was 
$5!> 875. 39,  and  of  Calvary  Chapel,  $7,415.81.  In  a  recent 
semi-centennial  sermon,  reviewing  the  history  of  the  parish 
and  forecasting  its  future,  the  rector  said:  "It  is  evident  that 
if  Calvary  Parish  is  permanently  to  occupy  its  present  posi- 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  279 

tion,  it  should  have  a  solid  and  substantial  church,  worthy  of 
its  name,  of  its  history,  of  the  work  it  is  doing,  and  the  place 
it  occupies  as  one  of  the  chief  parishes  of  the  great  metropolis 
of  America;  and  that  its  present  house  of  worship  should, 
within  the  next  few  years,  be  so  modified,  or  reconstructed, 
or  rebuilt,  that  we  may  hand  down  to  posterity  an  attractive 
church  edifice,  which,  in  architectural  taste  and  beauty,  will 
not  only  hold  its  own  with  all  the  other  historic  parishes  of 
New  York,  but  will  become,  in  future  times,  with  its  rich 
memories  and  gathered  associations,  like  the  hundreds  of 
English  and  Continental  parish  churches,  which  for  centuries 
have  blessed  the  communities  and  hallowed  the  spot  in  which 
they  lift  their  towers." 

CHRIST  CHURCH,  TARRYTOWN. 

This  parish  was  organized  August  8,  1836.  The  church 
was  built  in  1837,  and  has  been  twice  enlarged — in  1857  and 
in  1868.  The  first  rector  was  the  Rev.  William  Creighton, 
D.D.,  from  August  II,  1836,  to  the  day  of  his  death,  April 
23,  1865.  The  Rev.  J.  Selden  Spencer,  who  had  served  as 
assistant  minister  since  May,  1853,  was  elected  rector  May 
16,  1865,  and  is  now  incumbent.  A  rectory  was  built  adjoin- 
ing the  church,  and  completed  with  religious  observances  at 
the  opening  in  June,  1875. 

In  1858,  under  the  rectorship  of  Dr.  Creighton,  a  chapel 
with  parish  school  building  attached  was  built  in  Beekman- 
town,  now  called  North  Tarrytown,  at  a  cost  of  about  $10,000. 
It  afterwards  became  a  separate  parish,  under  the  name  of  St. 
Mark's  Church,  Mount  Pleasant. 

The  earlier  records  of  the  parish  are  wanting.  There 
have  been  655  baptisms  registered.  There  are  no  records  of 
confirmations  previous  to  1852.  Since  that  date,  404  have 
been  confirmed.  The  parish  began  with  3  communicants;  the 
present  number  is  170. 

The  wardens  in  1836  were:  Nathaniel  B.  Holmes  and 
Steuben  Swartwort ;  in  1846;  Ebenezer  Irving  and  Nathaniel 
B.  Holmes;  in  1856,  Nathaniel  B.  Holmes  and  Washington 
Irving  ;  in  1866,  Nathaniel  B.  Holmes  and  George  W.  Morell ; 


280  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

in  1876,  George  W.  Morell  and  William  S.  Wilson  ;  and  in 
1885,  William  S.  Wilson  and  William  G.  Weston. 

Christ  Church  and  Sunnyside,  the  residence  of  Washing- 
ton Irving,  were  built  in  the  same  year,  and  that  distin- 
guished author  was  for  many  years,  and  until  his  death,  a 
devout  and  faithful  parishioner  of  Christ  Church,  Tarrytown. 

The  rector  also  desires  to  put  on  record  the  devoted  serv- 
ices of  Nathaniel  B.  Holmes.  He  was  really  the  lay  founder 
of  the  parish,  starting  it  first  with  a  Sunday-school  and  lay 
reading.  He  was  faithful  and  loyal  to  his  religious  duties 
and  opportunities  to  his  life's  end. 

ST.  PAUL'S  CHURCH,  PLEASANT  VALLEY* 

This  parish  was  admitted  into  union  with  the  Convention 
in  1837,  and  has  been  served  at  intervals  by  resident  and 
missionary  clergy.  In  the  report  of  1853,  by  Rev.  Sheldon 
Davis,  rector,  the  communicants  are  set  down  as  17,  and  the 
church  spoken  of  as  a  central  point  for  mission  work  in  the 
rural  regions.  In  the  report  of  1885,  Rev.  Duncan  McCulloch, 
rector,  the  communicants  are  60,  and  the  other  statistics  indi- 
cate a  promise  of  thrift  and  increase. 

CHRIST  CHURCH,  MARLBOROUGH, 

Was  organized  February  27,  1837.  The  first  church  was 
built,  and  consecrated  by  Bishop  Benjamin  T.  Onderdonk, 
September  19,  1839.  ^  was  destroyed  by  fire  Sunday  morn- 
ing, December  27,  1857.  The  present  edifice  was  built  in 
1858,  and  consecrated  October  26,  the  same  year,  by  Bishop 
Horatio  Potter.  The  succession  of  rectors  is  as  follows:  the 
Rev.  Robert  Shaw,  who  organized  the  parish,  February  27, 
1837,  to  December,  1839;  Rev.  George  W.  Fash,  missionary, 
from  June,  1840,  to  July  I,  1843  ;  services  were  held  by  lay 
readers  until  June  10,  1845,  when  Rev.  Samuel  Hawksleywas 
ordained  deacon  and  chosen  rector.  He  died  September  2, 
1855,  aged  41.  Services  were  held  by  lay  readers  and  by  Rev. 
James  C.  Richmond,  until  the  Rev.  Samuel  M.  Akerly  was 
appointed  missionary,  March  13,  1857.  He  was  chosen  rec- 
tor September  21,  1861,  and  resigned  in  June,  1875.     He  was 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  28 1 

succeeded  by  Rev.  George  Waters,  August  29,  1875,  and  re- 
signed in  October,  1876.  He  was  succeeded,  October  14, 
1876,  by  the  present  incumbent,  Rev.  John  W.  Buckmaster. 

A  rectory  was  built  in  1862  on  a  lot  adjoining  the  church, 
and  in  1875  a  commodious  shed  was  provided  for  the  use  of 
the  parishioners. 

Since  organization  210  have  been  baptized  and  96  have 
received  confirmation.  The  present  number  of  communicants 
is  56.     The  wardens,  in  1837,  were:  Edward  Armstrong  and 

Miles  J.  Fletcher;  in  1848,  Gabriel  Merritt and ;  in  1857, 

Andrew  Oddie  and  John  Buckley;  in  1867,  Leonard  Carpen- 
ter and  John  Buckley;  in  1877,  James  Carpenter  and  Edward 
Jackson  ;   in  1886,  James  Carpenter  and  William  Armstrong. 

The  first  church  was  a  small  frame  building,  25  by  40  feet, 
burnt  after  Christmas  service  in  1857.  The  present  edifice 
is  Gothic  in  style,  and  built  of  brick,  after  designs  by  Richard 
Upjohn.  The  dimensions  are  33  by  78  feet,  and  there  are  sit- 
tings for  250  people.  The  cost  was  $7,000.  The  rectory, 
built  in  1862,  cost  $3,000.  The  church,  rectory,  and  shed, 
costing  $300,  were  built  during  the  rectorship  of  Rev.  Samuel 
M.  Akerly. 

CHURCH  OF  THE  ANNUNCIATION,  NEW  YORK, 

This  parish  was  organized  on  the  Feast  of  the  Annunciation 
in  1838.  The  first  church  edifice  was  purchased  from  another 
corporation.  The  present  church  was  erected  in  1847.  The 
corner-stone  was  laid  September  12th,  by  Dr.  Berrian,  rector 
of  Trinity  Parish.  The  church  was  first  opened  for  Divine 
service  in  August,  1847,  was  consecrated  by  Bishop  Horatio 
Potter,  September  30,  1855,  and  made  a  free  church  in  1873. 
The  rectors  have  been:  Rev.  Samuel  Seabury,  D.D.,  1838- 
1868,  and  Rev.  William  Jones  Seabury,  D.D.,  rector  since 
1868.  The  following  clergy  have  been  assistant  ministers: 
Rev.  Arthur  Cary,  Rev.  Thomas  Preston  (afterwards  a  Roman 
Catholic  priest),  Rev.  James  A.  Upjohn,  Rev.  Henry  Norman 
Hudson,  LL.D.,  Rev.  William  Walton,  D.D.,  Rev.  Edward 
Folsom  Baker,  Rev.  E.  H.  Cressey,  D.D.,  Rev.  Thomas 
McKee  Brown,  Rev.  Nelson  S.  Rulison  (now  assistant  Bishop 


282  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

of  Central  Pennsylvania),  Rev.  Henry  Duyckinck,  Rev.  Francis 
Harrison,  D.D.,  Rev.  Charles  P.  Dorset,  Rev.  George  F. 
Siegmund,  D.D.  (in  charge  of  German  missions),  Rev.  J.  J. 
R.  Spong,  Rev.  James  H.  H.  Brown,  and  Rev.  Charles  Edgar 
Taylor. 

A  rectory  was  built  in  1869.  The  vestry  room  was  en- 
larged and  a  story  added  during  the  first  rectorship,  and  a 
chapel,  with  society  and  chorister  rooms,  have  been  added 
during  the  present.  (There  is  no  report  given  of  baptisms, 
confirmations,  or  communicants.)  The  wardens  in  1838  were: 
Hon.  Samuel  Jones  and  Hon.  Wm.  H.  Bell  ;  in  1848,  Hon. 
Samuel  Jones  and  Edward  Houghton;  in  1858,  Benjamin  A. 
Mumford  and  Floyd  Smith  ;  in  1868,  Floyd  Smith  and  John 
D.  Jones,  and  in  1878,  John  D.  Jones  and  Hon.  George  Shea. 

The  first  Church  of  the  Annunciation,  now  St.  Ambrose, 
corner  of  Prince  and  Thompson  Streets,  was  consecrated  Octo- 
ber 2,  1839,  by  Bishop  Benjamin  T.  Onderdonk.  Here,  on 
Sunday,  January  5,  1845,  two  days  after  the  date  of  his  sus- 
pension from  the  episcopal  office,  he  received  Holy  Commun- 
ion at  the  hands  of  Bishop  Gadsden,  of  South  Carolina,  and 
from  this  time  until  his  death,  in  i86i,he  continued  a  regular 
attendant  upon  the  daily  and  weekly  services  of  the  church. 
Rev.  James  Lloyd  Breck,  D.D.,  and  Rev.  Robert  Weeks, 
were  superintendents  of  Sunday-school  in  this  parish,  while 
candidates  for  orders.  The  Rev.  Francis  L.  Hawks,  D.D., 
occupied  the  pulpit  as  the  guest  of  the  parish,  about  the  year 
1 864-1 865  ;  and  Rev.  Joaquin  de  Palma  officiated  between 
its  regular  services  on  Sundays,  in  Spanish,  for  the  Church  of 
Santiago,  for  several  years. 

ST.  LUKE'S  CHURCH,  SOMERS. 

This  parish  was  organized  in  1835,  and  the  church  erected 
in  1842.  The  rectors  have  been  Rev.  George  Strebeck,  1804 
Rev.  Alexander  Frazer,  1835;  Rev.  David  H.  Short,  1842 
Rev.  Samuel  C.  Davis,  1844;  Rev.  Alfred  H.  Partridge,  1846 
Rev.  John  Wells  Moore,  185 1  ;  Rev.  George  S.  Gordon,  1856 
Rev.  Charles  Douglas,  1861  ;  Rev.  William  Murphy,  1863; 
Rev.  Benjamin  Webb,   1865,  and  1869,  Rev.  R.  Condit  Rus- 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  283 

sell,  present  incumbent.  The  record  of  clerical  acts  is  defect- 
ive. Since  organization  120  have  received  confirmation.  In 
1842  there  were  13  communicants;  the  present  number  is  64. 
The  wardens  in  1836  were:  Isaac  Purdy  and  Frederick  J. 
Coffin  ;  in  1846,  Joshua  Purdy  and  Charles  Wright;  in  1856, 
Thaddeus  Barlow  and  William  Turk;  the  same  in  1866  and 
1876;  and  in  1885,  Thaddeus  Barlow  and  James  Hyatt. 

ST.  PHILIP'S  IN  THE  HIGHLANDS,  PHILIPSTOWN  * 

No  report  has  been  made  from  this  parish,  on  account  of 
unavoidable  obstructions.  It  was  received  into  union  with 
the  Convention  in  1840.  Among  its  rectors  have  been  :  Rev. 
E.  H.  Peeke,  Rev.  C.  F.  Hoffman,  Rev.  A.  Zabriskie  Gray 
(now  warden  of  Racine  College),  and  the  present  incumbent, 
Rev.  Walter  Thompson.  The  wardens  are  Hon.  Hamilton 
Fish  and  Thomas  B.  Arden.  The  number  of  communicants 
in  1885  was  106. 

ST.  MARY'S  IN  THE  HIGHLANDS 

Was  organized  in  1839.  The  first  church  was  consecrated 
November  16,  1841.  The  present  edifice,  built  of  stone, 
Gothic  in  design,  and  admirable  for  its  decorations  and  ap- 
pointments, was  consecrated  July  23,  1868.  The  clergy  have 
been:  Rev.  Ebenezer  Williams,  1839-1844;  Rev.  Robert 
Shaw,  1844-1859;  Rev.  Charles  William  Morrill,  1861-1864; 
Rev.  Mytton  Maury,  1865-1871  ;  Rev.  Charles  Carroll  Parsons, 
1872-1874;  Rev.  Isaac  Van  Winkle,  1874,  and  present  rector. 
A  rectory  was  purchased  in  1886.  An  elaborate  and  costly 
Sunday-school  chapel,  harmonizing  in  material  and  design 
with  the  church,  and  with  it  constituting  an  architectural 
group  of  singular  beauty,  was  completed  in  July,  1874,  during 
the  rectorship  of  Rev.  C.  C.  Parsons.  Since  organization 
1,022  baptisms  are  recorded,  and  384  have  received  confirma- 
tion. The  present  number  of  communicants  is  92.  From 
1 839-1 876  the  wardens  were  :  Gouverneur  Kemble  (who  died 
September,  1875)  and  Robert  Parker  Parrott  (who  died  De- 
cember, 1878);   1 876-1 878,  Robert  Parker  Parrott  and  Gouv- 


284  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

erneur  Kemble,  a  nephew  of  the  elder  Gouverneur  Kem- 
ble;  and  1878-1886,  Gouverneur  Kemble  and  Charles  Miller. 
Among  the  more  munificent  benefactors  of  the  parish  have 
been  the  late  Gouverneur  Kemble,  Robert  P.  Parrott  and  F. 
P.  James. 

ST.  ANN'S  CHURCH,  MORRISANIA* 

Was  admitted  into  Convention  in  1841.  The  Rev.  Charles  R. 
Jones  was  rector  at  that  date.  In  1843  the  parish  had  no 
rector.  In  1844  Rev.  Charles  Aldis  is  first  mentioned  as  rec- 
tor, and  continued  until  1847.  I]1  l%49  Rev.  A.  B.  Carter  is 
recorded  as  rector;  in  1852,  Rev.  J.  Pinckney  Hammond; 
in  1857,  Rev.  Wm.  Huckel,  until  1881  ;  and  in  1882,  Rev.  H. 
Kettell,  D.D.,  present  incumbent,  who  reported,  in  1885,  205 
communicants.  "The  parish  is  in  a  most  satisfactory  condi- 
tion. The  Sunday-school  is  crowded,  and  the  vestry  propose 
the  erection  of  a  new  chapel  during  the  coming  spring.  The 
church  property  is  in  excellent  condition,  and  has  been  im- 
proved by  the  planting  of  shade  trees  along  the  front  of  the 
church  grounds.     There  is  no  debt." 

CHURCH  OF  THE  ASCENSION,  ESOPUS* 

This  parish  was  received  into  union  with  the  Convention 
in  1842.  The  church  was  built  by  Mrs.  Anna  Watts,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Rutherford-Stuyvesant  family,  and  a  member  of 
Ascension  Parish,  New  York.  A  rectory  of  stone  was  built 
in  i860,  and  Mr.  Archibald  Russell  was  for  many  years  con- 
nected with  the  welfare  of  the  parish  as  a  summer  resident. 
Among  the  rectors  have  been  Rev.  Philip  Berry,  Rev.  Mr. 
Smithett,  Rev.  Richard  Temple,  Rev.  Henry  Beers  Sherman, 
and  in  1885,  Rev.  Alexander  Capron,  present  incumbent.  In 
his  report  to  the  Convention,  the  number  of  communicants  is 
set  down  at  25.  It  is  also  mentioned  that  the  number  of 
families  resident  through  the  year  has  so  largely  increased 
that  the  prospects  for  future  growth  are  encouraging. 


PARISH    HISTORIES.  285 

CHURCH  OF  THE  NATIVITY,  NEW  YORK. 

This  parish  was  organized  in  1842,  and  the  church  erected 
in  1849.  The  rectors  have  been:  Rev.  Caleb  Clapp,  1849- 
1871  ;  Rev.  J.  F.  Esch,  1878-1879;  Rev.  George  F.  Nelson, 
1879-1884;  and  since  that  year  the  present  incumbent,  Rev. 
Lawrence  H.  Schwab.  There  is  a  rectory,  in  which  services 
were  held  before  the  church  was  built.  Dating  as  far  back  as 
1834,  records  of  clerical  acts  have  been  found  in  this  parish. 
There  have  been  2,118  baptisms  administered  and  528  have 
received  confirmation.  The  present  number  of  communi- 
cants is  60.  In  1852  the  wardens  were :  Dr.  James  R.  Chapin 
and  Peter  M.  Svvaine;  in  1862,  Benjamin  Tanner  and  Peter 
M.  Swaine ;  in  1872,  John  L.  Smith  and  John  Guy;  and  in 
1882,  John  Guy  and  George  W.  Church. 

ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH,  CLIFTON, 

Was  organized  in  1843,  ar,d  the  corner-stone  of  the  first 
church  laid  September  12th.  The  corner-stone  of  the  second 
and  present  church  was  laid  November  10,  1869,  and  it  was  con- 
secrated September  30,  1871.  The  rectors  have  been  :  Rev. 
Kingston  Goddard,  1844-1847;  Rev.  Alexander  G.  Mercer, 
D.D.,  1847-1852  ;  Rev.  R.  M.  Abercrombie,  1853-1856;  Rev. 
J.  C.  Eccleston,  D.D.,  1856-1863  ;  Rev.  T.  K.  Conrad,  1863- 
1866;  and  Rev.  J.  C.  Eccleston,  D.D.,  recalled  May,  1867, 
and  present  incumbent.  A  spacious  and  beautiful  rectory 
was  provided  on  the  church  grounds  in  1882,  and  Mercer 
Memorial  Chapel,  with  Sunday-school  buildings,  were  erected 
in  1884.     The  present  number  of  communicants  is  350. 

St.  Simon's  Mission  to  the  Germans  was  organized  by 
Rev.  Dr.  Abercrombie  in  1854,  and  is  now  carried  on  as  a  mis- 
sion for  destitute  English-speaking  people.  The  wardens  of 
St.  John's  reported  are  :  Charles  M.  Simonson  and  William  H. 
Aspinwall  in  1843,  and  John  A.  Appleton  and  George  S. 
Scofield  in  1869. 

The  first  edifice  was  a  plain  wooden  structure,  and  stood 
on  the  west  side  of  the  street,  nearly  opposite  the  present 
grounds,  which  lie  on  the  east  side,  and  have  a  pleasant  slope 


286  CENTENNIAL  CHURCH   HISTORY. 

towards  the  Narrows,  which  lie  in  full  view.  The  architect  of 
the  new  church  was  Arthur  Gilman.  The  style  selected  was 
Edwardian  Gothic,  and  the  material  is  a  grayish  stone.  The 
plan  is  cruciform,  the  nave  and  transepts  being  wide  and 
short,  so  that  nearly  all  the  sittings  command  a  view  of  the 
chancel.  The  exterior  and  interior  proportions  are  singularly 
harmonious,  and  the  windows  are  filled  with  some  of  the  best 
glass  of  the  leading  makers  in  London.  There  are  few 
churches  where  so  much  really  excellent  glass  may  be  found. 
These  windows  are  nearly  all  memorials.  Among  the  bene- 
factors of  the  parish,  mention  is  due  of  John  A.  Appleton, 
for  many  years  a  devout  parishioner,  and  a  munificent  con- 
tributor to  the  funds  for  the  erection  of  both  church  and  rec- 
tory. The  Mercer  Memorial  was  chiefly  provided  for  through 
the  generous  consideration  of  the  residuary  legatees  of  the 
late  Dr.  Mercer. 

Since  organization,  although  the  earlier  parish  records  are 
incomplete,  939  baptisms  are  registered,  and  607  persons 
have  received  confirmation. 

ST.  LUKE'S  CHURCH,  ROSSVILLE. 

This  parish  was  organized  June  18,  1843,  and  the  church 
was  erected  in  1844.  The  rectors  have  been:  Rev.  C.  D. 
Jackson,    1843-1847;    Rev.  Samuel    Morehouse,    1847-1848; 

Rev.  B.  F.Taylor,  1849 1  Rev.Wm.  H.Reese,  1851-1855; 

Rev.  Jesse  Pound,  i856and  died  1866  ;  Rev.  Wm.  Henry  Bean, 
1866  until  his  decease,  in  April,  1876;  Rev.  James  R.  Sharp, 
1877-1882;  and  since  February,  1883,  Rev.  Wm.  Wardlaw, 
the  present  incumbent.  Since  organization  325  baptisms  are 
recorded,  and  175  have  received  confirmation.  The  present 
number  is  68,  and  the  number  has  varied  but  little  since  1854. 
The  wardens  in  1843  were  Wm.  E.  Ross  and  Wm.  Shea;  in 
1853,  Wm.  Shea  and  Thomas  Piatt ;  in  1863  and  1873,  David 
A.  Edgar  and  Henry  H.  Biddle  ;  and  in  1883,  Henry  H. 
Biddle  and  Henry  S.  Sequied.  Since  the  establishment  of 
this  parish,  services  have  been  held  continuously  and  the 
work  of  the  church  carried  on,  although  the  measure  of 
success  of  which  it  gave   promise  during  the  earlier   years 


PARISH    HISTORIES.  287 

has  not  been  realized  to  the  extent  that  its  friends  might 
desire.  This  has  been  owing  chiefly  to  the  want  of  adequate 
facilities  for  travel  between  this  place  and  the  city  of  New 
York.  The  increase  of  population  has  been  very  gradual, 
and  the  parish  has  suffered  by  the  removal  of  many  valuable 
families  whose  places  have  not  been  filled.  Still  it  has 
exerted  a  wide  and  healthy  influence,  and  maintained  a  firm 
hold  over  the  affections  of  the  people.  Within  the  past  two 
years  the  church  edifice  has  been  repaired  and  improved,  and 
attendance   at    services  and  Sunday-school  have  largely  in- 

CHRIST  CHURCH,  PELHAM. 

This  parish  was  organized  in  1844,  and  the  church  edifice 
built  in  1843.  The  rectors  have  been:  Rev.  Robert  Bolton, 
1844;  Rev.  Alexander  Shiras,  1852  ;  Rev.  C.  W.  Bolton,  1855  ; 
Rev.  N.  E.  Cornwall,  1857;  Rev.  M.  M.  Dillon,  1861  ;  Rev. 
E.  W.  Syle,  1864;  Rev.  J.  M.  Harding,  1868  ;  and  since  1871, 
Rev.  Charles  Higbee,  present  incumbent.  In  1863-4,  Rev. 
S.  S.  Cheever  was  assistant  minister.  A  rectory  was  obtained 
in  1867.  A  Sunday-school  house  was  built  in  1865,  Rev.  Mr. 
Syle,  rector.  Since  organization  501  have  been  baptized,  and 
1 87  received  confirmation.  At  present  there  are  70  communi. 
cants.  In  1844  the  wardens  were  :  Richard  Morris  and  H. 
Grunzebach;  in  1850,  Richard  Morris  and  Philip  Schuyler; 
in  i860,  Philip  Schuyler  and  W.  H.  LeRoy ;  in  1870,  R.  W. 
Edgar  and  A.  Newbold  Morris;  in  1880,  the  same;  and  at 
present,  R.  W.  Edgar  and  C.  H.  de  Luze.  Within  the  last 
two  years  both  the  church  building  and  rectory  have  been 
renovated  and  handsomely  decorated.  A  fine  stone  Sunday- 
school  house  is  about  to  be  erected  near  the  church,  an  enlarge- 
ment of  which  is  now  under  consideration,  as  the  present 
demand  for  pews  is  greater  than  the  supply. 

ST.  STEPHEN'S  CHURCH,  NORTH  CASTLE. 

This  parish  was  organized  October  10,  1842,  and  a  church 

erected  in  1843.    The  rectors  have  been  :  Rev.  R.  W.  Harris, 

from    1842-1853;    Rev.  J.  D.  Vermilye,  from  1853  until  his 

death  in   1864;  Rev.  J.  W.  Hyde,  from  1865-1867;  Rev.  C. 


288  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

W.  Bolton,  from  1867-1880;  Rev.  Benjamin  F.  Hall,  from 
1881-1882;  and  Rev.  John  T.  Pearce,  present  rector,  who  as- 
sumed charge  October  28,  1883.  The  parish  built  a  spacious 
rectory  in  1870,  during  the  rectorship  of  Rev.  C.  W.  Bolton. 
There  are  330  baptisms  recorded,  and  151  have  received  con- 
firmation. The  present  number  of  communicants  is  44.  There 
is  no  sufficient  record  of  wardens  to  present  in  this  connec- 
tion. The  settlement  in  the  town  of  North  Castle,  now  called 
Armonck,  at  the  time  the  parish  was  organized  and  its  pres- 
ent church  edifice  erected,  was  called  by  the  name  of  Miles' 
Square.  Previous  to  the  organization  of  the  parish,  Rev.  R. 
W.  Harris,  its  first  rector,  had  officiated  here  for  some  time, 
it  being  a  mission  station.  During  that  time,  and  up  to  the 
erecting  a  proper  church,  the  place  of  worship  had  been  an 
old  log  cabin,  built  on  the  site  where  the  Methodist  meeting- 
house now  stands.  Besides  the  rectors  already  named,  there 
were  other  clergymen  who  officiated  on  occasions  of  vacan- 
cies in  the  rectorship. 

CHURCH  OF  THE  HOLY  COMMUNION,  NEW 

YORK. 

This  parish  was  organized  in  1844.  The  corner-stone  was 
laid  on  St.  James'  Day,  1844,  and  the  church  completed  and 
consecrated  on  the  third  Sunday  in  Advent,  1846.  The 
pastors  have  been :  Rev.  William  Augustus  Muhlenberg, 
D.D.  (founder  of  the  parish),  1846-1859;  Rev.  Francis  Effing- 
ham Lawrence,  D.D.,   1859-1879,  and    Rev.  Henry  Mottel, 

from  1879  to  date-  The  rectory  was  built  m  l85I«  A 
schoolhouse  was  built  in  1852,  a  Sister's  Home  in  1852 
(during  Dr.  Muhlenberg's  pastorate),  and  a  Home  for  Aged 
Women  in  1867,  and  a  Babies'  Shelter,  in  1871.  All  these 
works  and  charities  lie  within  the  ministry  of  the  pastor. 
Since  organization,  3,200  baptisms  are  recorded,  and  1,800 
have  been  confirmed.  In  1846  there  were  200  communicants  ; 
in  1856,  350  ;  in  1866,  500;  in  1876,  700,  and  at  present,  1886, 
there  are  925. 

This  parish  is  organized  under  a  Board  of  Trustees,  who 
at  the  organization  were  :  Robert  B.  Minturn,  John  H.  Swift, 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  289 

William  E.  Chisholm,  A.  W.  Reynolds,  Edgar  H.  Richards, 
with  Rev.  Dr.  Muhlenberg  and  Rev.  F.  E.  Lawrence.  The 
present  board  are  Rev.  Henry  Mottet,  President,  Edgar  A. 
Richards,  George  Cabot  Ward,  Charles  W.  Ogden,  Francis 
McNeil  Bacon,  Charles  Spear  and  Hilborne  L.  Roosevelt. 

This  was  the  first  free  church*  in  this  country  ;  the  first  to 
establish  early  communions;  the  first  to  establish  weekly 
celebrations  ;  the  first  to  sustain  daily  prayers  ;  the  first  to 
divide  the  services ;  the  first  to  establish  a  choir  of  men  and 
boys  ;  the  first  to  have  a  Christmas  tree  for  poor  children ; 
the  first  to  adorn  altar  and  font  with  flowers;  the  first  with 
chancel  lights  at  Epiphany,  and  the  first  in  the  Anglican  and 
American  Church  to  organize  a  sisterhood  (1852).  The 
receipts  from  voluntary  contributions  and  the  offertory,  dur- 
ing 1885,  for  the  support  of  the  church,  were  $12,125.37,  and 
for  benevolent  uses,  $35,460.10,  making  a  total  of  $47,585.47. 

Among  the  organized  activities  of  the  parish  are  a  Work- 
ing Men's  Club,  a  Working  Girls'  Club,  a  Boys'  Club,  an 
Employment  Society,  a  Missionary  Society,  a  Sunday-school 
numbering  654  scholars,  with  52  officers  and  teachers,  and  an 
Industrial  School  numbering  354  scholars  and  teachers.  The 
church  occupies  the  north-east  corner  of  Sixth  Avenue  and 
Twentieth  Street  ;  the  rectory  stands  adjoining  on  Twentieth 
Street,  while  the  Sister's  House,  Home  for  Aged,  chapel  and 
parish  rooms  are  adjoining  on  Sixth  Avenue.  They  are 
built  of  brown  stone  in  Gothic,  after  Upjohn's  designs,  and 
constitute  together  a  picturesque  and  harmonious  group. 

In  a  communication  received  from  Sister  Anne  Ayres,  she 
writes :  The  Church  of  the  Holy  Communion  was  built  en- 
tirely by  Dr.   Muhlenberg's  only  sister,  Mrs.  Mary  Anna  C. 

*  It  is  necessary  in  this  connection  to  refer  the  reader  to  the  report  of  the 
Parish  of  the  Epiphany,  New  York,  where  its  organization  as  a  free  church  is 
placed  at  1833.  If  these  data  are  correct,  it  appears  that  the  Church  of  the 
Epiphany  has  a  priority  over  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Communion,  of  eleven  years, 
as  the  pioneer  free  church.  It  further  appears  that  St.  Mary's,  Manhattanville, 
New  York,  was  a  free  church,  in  1833,  as  was  stated  in  the  parish  report  to  the 
Diocesan  Convention  of  that  year.  In  this  connection  the  present  rector  writes  : 
"  and  it  is  probable  that  there  were  no  pew  rentals,  after  1831,  and  for  twenty- 
three  years  of  the  present  rectorship  it  has  continued  a  free  church." 
19 


29O  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

Rogers,  widow  of  Mr.  John  Rogers,  and  in  pursuance  of  a 
wish  of  her  husband's  in  his  last  illness,  "  that  a  church  might 
be  erected  to  the  glory  of  God  where  the  rich  and  the  poor 
would  meet  together  "  (as  Dr.  Muhlenberg  had  often  set  forth 
among  his  relatives  in  God's  house  they  should).  Mrs. 
Rogers,  I  believe,  was  left  quite  free  in  the  matters  of  cost, 
locality,  etc.,  her  husband  leaving  his  property  to  her  unre- 
stricted use  and  disposal.  She  also  built  the  rectory  of  the 
church.  In  the  earlier  years,  indeed  for  many  years,  Mrs. 
Rogers  annually  gave  largely  to  the  support  of  the  church, 
through  the  weekly  offertory  and  otherwise.  "  The  Church  of 
the  Holy  Communion  has  always  been  supported  by  the 
weekly  offertory,"  said  Dr.  Muhlenberg  a  few  years  before  his 
decease,  1872,  "but  I  have  never  thought  that  that  should  be 
exclusively  the  means  of  support  for  such  churches.  The 
offertory  should  give  the  opportunity  for  all  to  contribute  ac- 
cording to  their  ability,  but,  in  addition,  the  more  wealthy 
members,  because  I  have  always  repudiated  the  notion  that 
free  churches  should  be  exclusively  for  the  poor.  Their 
fundamental  idea  is  in  the  meeting  of  the  rich  and  poor  to- 
gether in  the  House  of  the  Lord.  They  are  practical  demon- 
strations of  the  Christian  Church  as  the  divine  brother- 
hood." 

In  a  brief  memorandum  like  this  it  is  impossible  to  attempt 
more  than  the  briefest  outline  of  such  a  man  and  a  life;  not 
that  the  outline  contains  the  subject,  but  may  refresh  remem- 
brances concerning  him  which  few  who  knew  him  would 
willingly  have  passed  out  of  household  knowledge.  The 
parish  he  created  is  to  this  day  charged  with  his  life  and 
individuality.  Indeed,  he  involuntarily  left  an  impression  of 
himself  so  sharply  outlined  in  whatever  movement,  organi- 
zation, or  body  he  had  to  do  with,  that  it  became  simply 
ineradicable.  His  coadjutors  and  helpers  could  not  help  re- 
flecting him,  and  yet  no  great  man  left  fewer  imitators  or 
professional  followers.  He  was  one  of  the  most  direct  and 
ingenuous  of  men.  He  seemed  incapable  of  arts  and  subter- 
fuges. He  was  always  found  glowing  at  head  or  heart,  and, 
most  frequently  at  both.     As  an  educator  he  made  the  deep- 


PARISH    HISTORIES.  29I 

est  mark  of  any  of  his  contemporaries  ;  and  College  Point 
men  were  among  the  best  equipped  figures  of  this  great 
Church  revival  period.  In  many  ways  he  was  more  than 
another  Arnold  of  Rugby,  and  as  a  Christian  leader  and 
teacher  he  nowhere  fell  below  the  great  Master  of  Rugby,  in 
all  that  goes  to  building  up  and  beautifying  character. 

Dr.  Muhlenberg  came  at  a  time  when  dialectics  and  logical 
developments  needed  the  mellowing  tempering  of  his  presence 
and  spirit.  He  gave  a  new  and  permanent  impulse  to  a  qual- 
ity of  ecclesiastical  aestheticism  wherein  all  Churchmen  might 
become  sharers.  He  recognized  the  bare,  half-fledged  condi- 
tion of  the  young  Church  just  freed  from  the  dangerous 
embrace  of  royal  nurture,  and  yet  awkward  and  ungraceful  in 
its  republican  swaddling  clothes.  To  Dr.  Muhlenberg's  won- 
derful patience,  perseverance,  and  inextinguishable  enthu- 
siasm, the  Church  owes  not  a  little  of  her  widely  developed 
delight  in  the  ritual  beauty  of  holiness.  As  a  propagandist 
of  the  free  church  movement,  in  which  he  was  an  early 
pioneer,  he  was  simple,  irresistible,  and  irrepressible.  There 
are  hymns,  too,  of  his  which  reach  the  hearts  of  all  the  people. 
A  lover  of  all  workers  in  the  Lord's  vineyard,  his  hand  first 
went  forth  to  welcome  and  succor  sisterhoods  and  orders  of 
devout  women.  He  was  the  earliest  efficient  worker  in  the 
cause  of  congregational  church  music.  In  the  Memorial 
movement,  he  first  demonstrated  the  accessibility  of  the 
House  of  Bishops  and  the  General  Convention  to  any  vigor- 
ous movement  of  inquiry  which  had  an  honest  footing  in  the 
Church,  and  those  who  knew  him  best  and  most  wisely  will 
always  think  of  him  as  the  actual  father  of  the  Church  Con- 
gress as  an  unchallenged  "  third  estate  "  in  the  evolution  of 
Church  thought  and  purpose.  He  left  no  formulated  "  school " 
to  distract  and  perplex  the  future  ;  but  he  did  leave  a  vigorous 
lesson  of  healthy  inquiry  and  conservative  evolution  which 
secures  the  Church  for  some  generations  to  come,  saved  from 
the  plague  of  stagnation.  His  monuments  are  many  for  a 
single  life.  There  is  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Communion  and 
its  constantly  developing  utilities,  all  at  the  foot  of  the  cross; 
there  is  St.  Luke's  Hospital,  and  there  is  St.  Johnland,  with 


292  CENTENNIAL  CHURCH   HISTORY. 

its  indefinite  outreach  of  cheer  and  help,  far  down  in  the 
future.  Such  a  personage  was  not  a  "  popular  man,"  nor  the 
main-spring  of  a  "party,"  nor  one  likely  to  strike  hands  with 
the  materialism  and  formalism  of  the  day.  "  Right  dear  in 
the  sight  of  the  Lord  (and  of  the  Lord's  people)  is  the  death 
of  His  saints." 

THE  CHURCH    OF  THE    EPIPHANY,  NEW   YORK. 

This  parish  was  organized  in  1833,  during  Epiphany-tide. 
Lots  were  purchased  in  Stanton  Street  and  a  church  built. 
The  corner-stone  was  laid  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Richard  Chan- 
ning  Moore,  Bishop  of  Virginia,  and  the  church  was  conse- 
crated June  28,  1834,  by  the  Bishops  of  New  York,  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Connecticut.  This  was  the  first  free  church  in  the 
city.  The  rectors  have  been:  Rev.  Lot  Jones,  D.D.,  from 
1833  to  his  decease,  October,  1865;  Rev.  B.  B.  Leacock, 
1 867-1 872;  Rev.  Jacob  Rambo,  1 872-1 873  ;  Rev.  U.  T. 
Tracy,  1874-1884,  and  Rev.  Alford  A.  Butler,  incumbent, 
since  May,  1884.  The  number  of  baptisms  recorded  is  some- 
thing over  3,650,  of  which  3,234  are  referable  to  the  rector- 
ship of  Dr.  Jones,  and  1,381  have  received  confirmation.  The 
number  of  communicants  in  1835  were  205  ;  in  1845,  511  I  m 

1855, ;  in  1865,  about  360;  in  1875,  175  ;  in  1880,  75  ;  in 

1885,  138,  and  the  present  number  is  150. 

Here  glimpses  of  the  history  of  the  parish  at  two  different 
periods  during  the  first  rectorship  will  prove  edifying.  July, 
1845,  we  read  that  "this  church,  established  about  twelve 
years  since  by  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Mission  Society,  has 
been  steadily  increasing  in  numbers  and  strength  :  1,221  per- 
sons have  been  baptized  (adults,  148  ;  children,  1,073);  mar~ 
riages,  312;  funerals,  595;  confirmation,  487;  1,015  have 
been  received  to  the  Holy  Communion,  of  whom  511  are 
now  communicants  in  said  church." 

Again,  January,  1858,  on  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of 
the  founding  of  the  church,  Dr.  Jones  said :  "  During  my 
connection  with  this  church  I  have  baptized  253  adults,  2,248 
children,  making  in  all 2,501  ;  married  750 couples;  presented 
915    persons    for    confirmation;    enrolled   as    communicants 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  293 

1,494,  and  attended  1,362  funerals.  Our  present  number  of 
communicants  is  about  400.  Nine  young  men,  confirmed 
here,  have  entered  the  ministry,  and  11  others,  teachers 
in  our  Sunday-school,  confirmed  elsewhere,  have  taken  holy 
orders."  At  least  two  of  the  clergymen  have  been  conse- 
crated bishops. 

During  the  first  twelve  years  after  organization  there  was 
no  vestry.  Elijah  Guion  was  chairman  of  Superintending  Com- 
mittee in  1833,  and  Robert  Cornley  in  1840.  The  wardens, 
in  1845,  were:  William  T.  Pinckney  and  Peter  D.  Collins ;  in 
1855,  William  T.  Pinckney  and  John  Allen,  and  in  1886,  Ed- 
ward Black  and  Robert  Betty. 

The  parish,  after  the  decease  of  the  first  rector,  expe- 
rienced grave  vicissitudes,  largely  owing  to  the  changed  and 
continually  changing  character  of  its  neighborhood.  In  1874 
an  exchange  of  property  was  made,  and  the  few  remaining 
members  of  the  Epiphany  removed  from  Stanton  Street  and 
took  possession  of  the  wooden  building  on  East  Fiftieth 
Street,  then  under  the  care  of  the  Rev.  U.  T.  Tracy,  the  two 
congregations  uniting  under  his  rectorship.  The  frame  edi- 
fice on  Fiftieth  Street  was  old,  and  found  to  be  going  to  de- 
cay. In  1 88 1  the  present  edifice  in  East  Forty-eighth  Street 
was  put  upon  the  market  by  St.  Alban's  Parish,  and  purchased 
by  the  Epiphany.  In  April,  1884,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Tracy  re- 
signed the  rectorship,  on  account  of  impaired  health,  and  in 
the  following  May  he  was  succeeded  by  the  present  rector. 
It  is  a  matter  of  congratulation  and  thanksgiving  that  the  old 
church-site  in  Stanton  Street  is  at  last  rescued  from  the  peril 
of  secularization,  and  is  occupied  by  a  large  and  very  commo- 
dious church  and  parish  building,  which  will  be  consecrated 
this  spring,  for  the  Parish  of  the  Reformation.  The  present 
outlook  for  the  Epiphany  is  encouraging,  and  there  are  to- 
kens of  a  revival  of  the  old-time  zeal  and  spiritual  thrift,  not- 
withstanding the  close  proximity  of  several  of  the  largest  and 
most  commanding  churches  in  the  city,  separated  by  only  a 
single  avenue.  It  seems  to  be  firmly  establishing  its  activi- 
ties in  the  great  east-side  population,  after  the  example  of  the 
parish  of  a  former  generation.     The  last  Feast  of  the  Epiph- 


294  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

any  was  made  an  occasion  for  the  solemn  bringing  together 
of  the  old  and  the  new  Epiphany,  beneath  the  memorial  mu- 
ral tablet  to  the  memory  of  its  first  rector,  which  had  been 
removed  from  the  old  church  and  unveiled  that  day  in  the 
new.  Letters  in  lively  terms  of  sympathy  and  reminiscence 
were  read  from  Bishop  Paddock,  of  Massachusetts,  and 
Bishop  Gillespie,  of  Western  Michigan,  both  of  whom  had 
been  connected  with  the  old  church,  the  one  as  assistant  where 
he  passed  his  diaconate,  and  the  other  as  a  parishioner  and 
Sunday-school  teacher. 

CHURCH  OF  THE  HOLY  APOSTLES,  NEW  YORK. 

This  parish  was  organized  November  i,  1844.  The  corner- 
stone was  laid  by  Bishop  McCroskey,  of  Michigan,  May  31, 
1846.  The  building  was  subsequently  enlarged  by  the  addi- 
tion of  the  present  chancel  and  transepts.  The  rectors  have 
been:  Rev.  Foster  Thayer,  from  organization  to  1847;  Rev. 
Robert  S.  Howland,  D.D.,  from  1 847-1 869  ;  Rev.  John  P. 
Lundy,  D.D.,  1869-1875,  and  Rev.  Brady  E.  Backus,  since 
1875,  rector  and  present  incumbent.  Since  organization  there 
have  been  3,500  baptisms,  1,180  persons  confirmed,  and  the 
present  number  of  communicants  is  350.  Under  Dr.  How- 
land's  rectorship  a  mission  chapel  was  purchased  and  main- 
tained in  Twenty-ninth  Street,  near  Ninth  Avenue  ;  this  was 
succeeded  by  the  present  Sunday-school  building,  adjoining 
the  church.  A  rectory  was  purchased,  adjoining  the  church, 
during  the  rectorship  of  Dr.  Backus. 

The  wardens  have  been  :  at  organization,  John  Smith  and 
Elias  G.  Drake;  in  1854,  John  Smith  and  Walter  Roome;  in 
1864,  Samuel  Newby  and  John  W.  Seymour;  in  1874,  Wil- 
liam Barden  and  Daniel  B.  Whitlock,  and  at  present  they  are 
Daniel  B.  Whitlock  and  Robert  H.  Goff. 

During  his  rectorship  Dr.  Howland  had  associated  with 
him  Rev.  George  Jarvis  Geer,  D.D.,  under  whose  administra- 
tions the  Church  of  St.  Timothy  was  subsequently  organized, 
and  in  whose  service,  as  rector,  he  died,  March  16,  1865  ;  Rev. 
Thomas  K.  Conrad,  D.D.,  during  whose  ministry  mission  serv- 


PARISH    HISTORIES.  295 

ices  were  begun  at  the  Rutgers  Institute,  Fifth  Avenue  and 
Forty-second  Street,  which  afterwards  grew  into  the  Parish 
of  the  Holy  Apostles,  and  Rev.  David  L.  Schwartz.  The 
Rev.  George  L.  Neide  also  had  for  some  time  in  charge  the 
first  mission  of  the  parish,  which  was  opened  in  Twenty-ninth 
Street,  near  Ninth  Avenue. 

This  parish  had  its  beginning  in  a  Sunday-school,  which 
was  organized  July  II,  1836.  The  services  of  the  young  par- 
ish were  held,  for  the  first  year,  in  the  chapel  of  the  Blind 
Asylum.  After  this  the  congregation  met  in  the  basement  of 
the  Martine  House,  No.  337  West  Twenty-eighth  Street.  In 
a  short  time  steps  were  taken  toward  the  erection  of  a  church, 
at  an  estimated  cost  of  $12,000,  which  was  raised  by  subscrip- 
tions, a  gift  of  $5,000  from  Trinity  Parish,  and  a  loan.  The 
lots,  comprising  a  plot  100  feet  square,  were  a  gift  of  Mr. 
Robert  Ray.  The  church  then  erected  became  the  nave 
of  the  present  building.  It  was  originally  purposed  to  make 
the  church  free,  but  a  resolution  to  this  effect  was  afterward 
revoked.  At  the  time  of  the  enlargement,  under  Dr.  How- 
land,  the  additions  were  built  upon  a  lot  originally  presented 
to  the  parish  by  Mr.  J.  A.  King,  and  intended  as  a  site  for  a 
rectory.  The  entire  cost  of  these  improvements,  amounting 
to  about  $10,000,  was  generously  provided  by  the  munificence 
of  Dr.  Howland.  During  the  rectorship  of  Dr.  Lundy,  in 
which  the  growth  and  usefulness  of  the  parish  was  ably  sus- 
tained, he  produced  his  celebrated  and  scholarly  work  on 
Monumental  Christianity. 

During  the  present  rectorship  a  rectory  has  been  purchased 
on  Twenty-eighth  Street,  adjoining  the  church,  and  the  church 
property  put  in  thorough  repair,  at  an  expense  of  $10,000. 
The  parish  owns  its  church  building,  Sunday-school  building, 
rectory,  and  a  store  on  Ninth  Avenue,  the  aggregate  value  of 
which  is  $125,000,  and  comparatively  free  from  debt.  In  a  ser- 
mon preached  by  the  reverend  rector,  March  21,  1866,  he  says: 
"  This  parish,  notwithstanding  many  losses  and  changes  in 
the  neighborhood,  is  now,  in  point  of  means  annually  ex- 
pended in  its  charities  and  agencies,  in  its  Sunday-school  and 
services,  in  the  condition  of  its  property,  in  the  number  of 


296  CENTENNIAL  CHURCH   HISTORY. 

souls  reached  by  its  ministrations,  doing  as  good  work  as  it 
has  ever  done  in  its  history."  During  these  ten  years  there 
have  been  baptized,  infants  and  adults,  900;  450  funeral  serv- 
ices have  been  held  ;  375  persons  have  been  presented  for 
confirmation,  and  310  marriages  solemnized.  The  amount 
raised  for  parish  and  charitable  purposes  is  not  far  from 
$100,000. 

CHURCH    OF   ST.   GEORGE    THE    MARTYR, 
NEW  YORK, 

Was  admitted  into  union  with  the  Diocesan  Convention 
in  1845.  A  church  was  procured  in  1859,  ^ut  so^  m  1865. 
The  rectors  and  clergy  in  charge  have  been :  Rev.  Moses 
Marens,  1845-1852,  rector;  Rev.  Alexander  S.  Leonard, 
D.D.,  1853-1865,  rector;  Rev.  Frederick  Sill,  1867-1875, 
minister  in  charge;  Rev.  Campbell  Faair,  1 875-1 876,  in 
charge;  Rev.  Z.  Doty,  1876,  in  charge;  Rev.  J.  W.  Kramer, 
1877-1881,  in  charge;  and  Rev.  B.  F.  DeCosta,  since  1885, 
and  at  present  in  charge.  There  are  no  records  of  baptisms, 
confirmations,  and  communicants.  The  following  gentlemen 
have  served  as  wardens :  Rev.  Thomas  Field  Frask  (no  date) ; 
Anthony  Barclay,  1854-1858;  Thomas  Field  Frask,  1852- 
1872;  and  Robert  Waller,  1873-1885. 

This  parish  was  organized  to  build  a  church  and  hospital 
for  British  immigrants,  and  obtained  a  grant  of  land,  Fifty- 
fourth  to  Fifty-fifth  Street,  on  Fifth  Avenue,  in  all,  twenty- 
four  lots.  These  were  afterwards  transferred  to  St.  Luke's 
Hospital  Association,  a  part  of  the  consideration  being  that 
a  ward,  or  wing,  capable  of  holding  twenty  beds,  should  be 
known  and  designated  as  "  The  Ward  of  St.  George  the 
Martyr."  With  the  exception  of  six  years,  the  parish  owned 
a  church  building  in  Forty-fourth  Street,  between  Fifth  and 
Sixth  Avenues.  The  congregation  has  worshiped,  by  invita- 
tion, first  in  the  church  at  the  corner  of  Thompson  and  Prince 
Streets,  with  the  Parish  of  "  Emmanuel  "  ;  afterwards  in  the 
same  building,  as  guests  of  St.  Ambrose  Church  ;  and  then,  as 
now,  with  the  congregation  of  St.  John,  Evangelist,  in  West 
Eleventh  Street,  corner  of  Waverley  Place. 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  297 

GRACE  CHURCH,  SOUTH  MIDDLETOWN. 

This  parish  was  organized  February  8,  1845.  The  church 
edifice  was  built  in  1847.  (The  report  received  is  very 
meager,  presents  no  other  dates,  and  no  statistics  of  clerical 
acts.)  The  rectors  have  been  :  Rev.  G.  W.  Finlow,  Rev.  T. 
S.  Spencer,  Rev.  P.  T.  Babbitt,  Rev.  Alex.  Capron,  Rev.  Geo. 
D.  Silliman,  Rev.  Peter  P.  Harrower,  and  the  present  incum- 
bent, Rev.  Wm.  McGlathery.  From  the  Journal  of  1885,  it 
appears  that  there  are  272  communicants,  and  that  the  war- 
dens are  Joseph  B.  Swalm  and  Lewis  Armstrong,  M.D. 

ST.  PETER'S  CHURCH,  HIGH  FALLS, 

Was  organized  April  13,  1846,  and  incorporated  as  St. 
Peter's.  Subsequently  it  was  illegally  reincorporated,  Oc- 
tober 16,  i860,  as  the  Church  of  the  Good  Shepherd.  Its 
proper  and  legal  title  is  St.  Peter's.  The  church  edifice  was 
provided  April  13,  1846,  by  converting  a  store  into  a  house 
for  Divine  worship.  At  this  time,  and  for  some  years  after- 
wards, Rev.  Peter  S.  Burchan,  D.D.,  and  others  served  it  as  a 
mission.  At  the  time  of  the  second  incorporation  (i860)  the 
Rev.  Ephraim  DeGuy  became  rector.  After  his  resignation 
the  parish  was  served  irregularly,  although  without  interrup- 
tion of  services,  the  nominal  rectors  apparently  being  Rev. 
Samuel  Havvksley  and  Rev.  F.  S.  McAllister,  of  St.  John's 
Church,  Kingston.  The  parish  register  of  baptisms  begins 
with  Rev.  G.  Washington  West,  who  was  rector  from  May 
31,  1874,  to   December   29th    following.      The    Rev.   Alfred 

Evan  Johnson  was  rector  from  November  30,  1875,  to ; 

Rev.  C.  H.  Tomlins,  July  1,  1876,  to  June  3,  1879  !  Rev-  W. 
C.  Maguire,  December  25,  1879,  to  ^  °f  l88 :  >  ^-ev-  Francis 

J.  Clayton,  November,  1881,  to  ,  1882;  Rev.  George  C. 

Hepburn,  May,  1882,  to  fall  of  1882;  Rev.  J.  J.  R.  Spong, 
March,   1883,  to   fall    of  1883;   Rev.   Nelson  Ayres,  March, 

1884,  to  December,  1884;    Rev.  Edward  Ransford,  May  16, 

1885,  present  incumbent. 

During   the   rectorship    of  Rev.  W.  H.  Tomlins,  a  new 


298  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

stone  church  was  built  at  Rosendale,  an  adjacent  village,  and 
consecrated  September  20,  1885,  by  assistant  Bishop  H.  C. 
Potter.  During  the  present  rectorship,  in  High  Falls  a  new 
frame  memorial  church,  St.  John's,  was  built  in  1885,  and 
opened  November  15,  1885,  by  Rev.  Ed.  Ransford,  rector. 

Since  the  spring  of  1874,  261  baptisms  are  recorded: 
those  previous  to  that  date  are  doubtless  to  be  found  in  the 
register  of  St.  John's  Church,  Kingston  ;  and  since  the  same 
date  jy  have  received  confirmation.  In  1846  there  were  10 
communicants,  and  the  whole  number  at  present,  from  the 
three  churches  which  form  the  parish,  is  69. 

The  wardens  were,  apparently,  Jacob  L.  Hasbrouck  and 
Hector  Abeel,  from  1846  to  i860  ;  from  i860  to  1877,  Lewis 
H.  Wickes  and  Hector  Abeel.  At  present  they  are  Cornelius 
Hardenbergh  and  Henry  T.  Delafield. 

The  parish  was  originally  established  through  the  efforts 
of  Dr.  Lewis  H.  Wickes,  who  settled  in  the  village  in  1839, 
and  married  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Hardenbergh,  mother  of  Major 
Cornelius  C.  Hardenbergh,  the  present  senior  warden  and 
treasurer  of  the  church.  Mr.  Hector  Abeel  and  his  sister, 
Miss  Ann  E.  Abeel,  have  also  been  among  the  most  faithful 
workers  for  the  church,  from  the  beginning  down  to  the  pres- 
ent. The  interior  of  the  Church  of  St.  Peter,  Stone  Ridge, 
was  made  thoroughly  churchly  by  Mrs.  Moran  and  Mr.  H.  T. 
Delafield,  in  1884.  The  mission  at  Rosendale  prospered  so 
greatly  that  a  beautiful  stone  church,  All  Saints',  was  built 
in  1876,  on  ground  presented  by  Mr.  Cornell.  It  is  now  con- 
secrated, and  in  union  with  the  Diocesan  Convention.  A 
memorial  church,  St.  John's,  was  built  in  1885,  and  opened 
the  same  year  through  the  liberality  of  Mrs.  R.  K.  Delafield, 
whose  sister,  Miss  Caroline  Bard,  in  conjunction  with  Mrs.  F. 
O.  Norton,  of  High  Falls,  had  inaugurated  mission  work 
among  the  cement  workers  and  quarrymen  in  the  latter  vil- 
lage. In  every  particular  this  is  one  of  the  loveliest  and 
most  completely  furnished  churches  in  the  diocese  outside 
New  York  City. 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  299 

FREE  CHURCH  OF  THE  HOLY  MARTYRS, 
NEW  YORK. 

This  church  was  organized  July  15,  1847.  Its  church 
edifice  was  purchased  of  a  Second  Advent  Society  in  1854- 
The  Rev.  James  Millett  has  been  the  only  rector  since  organ- 
ization. About  2,800  baptisms  are  reported,  and  about  450 
have  received  confirmation.  The  number  of  communicants 
at  each  decade  ranges  between  80  and  90.  The  present  num- 
ber is  75.  The  wardens  at  the  first  decade  were:  Charles  A. 
Sammis  and  Alex.  Forbes;  at  the  second,  David  J.  Ottiwell 
and  Charles  Ottiwell ;  at  the  third,  Joseph  Wiley  and  John 
Haw ;  and  at  the  fourth,  John  Nedwell  and  John  E.  Ottiwell. 
The  growth  is  constantly  checked  on  account  of  the  neigh- 
borhood and  changes  in  residence  and  occupations. 

TRINITY  CHURCH,  HAVERSTRAW. 

This  parish  was  organized  by  Rev.  W.  F.  Walker,  received 
into  union  with  the  Diocesan  Convention  in  1847,  and  incor- 
porated December  10,  1855.  The  church  was  built  in  1856. 
The  following  is  the  succession  of  rectors  :  Rev.  W.  F.  Walker, 
missionary,  1846-1847;  Rev.  J.  B.  Gibson,  D.D.,  incorporator 
and  first  rector,  February,  1854,  to  February,  1861  ;  Rev.  G. 
H.  Hepburn,  1861,  less  than  one  year;  Rev.  E.  Gay,  Jr., 
April,  1862,  to  August,  1869;  Rev.  Walter  Delafield,  D.D., 
October,  1869,  to  August,  1873  ;  Rev.  C.  B.  Coffin,  July, 
1874,  to  April,  1875  ;  Rev.  G.  W.  West,  September,  1875,  to 
September,  1878  ;  and  Rev.  A.  T.  Ashton,  the  present  rector, 
who  assumed  charge  November  3,  1878. 

The  rectory  was  begun  in  1877,  and  completed  and  en- 
larged in  1880.  A  Sunday-school  building,  known  as  Trinity 
Hall,  was  built  in  1859 — Rev«  Dr-  J-  B-  Gibson,  rector — and 
enlarged  during  the  rectorship  of  Dr.  Delafield. 

Since  organization  there  are  recorded  1,078  baptisms,  and 
333  have  received  confirmation.  In  1854,  there  were  35  com- 
municants; in  i860,  60;  in  1870,  66;  in  1880,  100;  in  1885, 
118,  the  present  number.    It  should  be  noted  that  the  figures 


300  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

for  the  earlier  years  include  the  communicants  of  what  is 
now  St.  Luke's  Parish. 

The  wardens  before  the  incorporation,  in  1846,  were  :  J. 
R.  Bleecker  and  Isaac  Maquestion.  Those  elected  at  the 
date  of  incorporation,  1855,  were:  J.  R.  Bleecker  and  JohnC. 
Rieck  ;  in  i860,  John  C.  Rieck  and  Alwyn  Ball  ;  in  1870,  John 
Taylor  and  Aaron  B.  Reid  ;  in  1880,  the  same ;  and  the  pres- 
ent wardens  are  John  Taylor  and  James  E.  West. 

This  is  the  oldest  parish  in  Rockland  County.  The  first 
church  service  was  held  in  1846  by  Rev.  W.  F.  Walker,  who 
organized  a  vestry.  The  church  was  consecrated  by  Bishop 
Horatio  Potter,  June  17,  1856,  the  corner-stone  having  been 
laid  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Creighton  the  previous  year. 

As  a  result  and  outgrowth  of  the  missionary  labors  begun 
in  Haverstraw  and  continued  by  the  successive  rectors  of  the 
parish,  there  are  now  in  the  county  these  churches  and  chari- 
ties :  St.  Luke's  Church,  Haverstraw ;  St.  John's  Church, 
New  City  ;  the  House  of  Prayer,  Caldwell's;  Grace  Church, 
Stony  Point  ;  the  House  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  Tompkins' 
Cove ;  and  St.  John's  Church,  St.  John. 

The  following  clergy  have  at  various  times  been  con- 
nected with  the  parish  as  assistants :  Rev.  E.  A.  Nichols, 
Rev.  Thomas  Marsden,   1866-1867,  and   Rev.  D.   G.  Gunn, 

1873- 

The  first  confirmation  in  Haverstraw  was  held  by  Bishop 

Wainwright  in  August,  1854.     This  was  also  the  bishop's  last 

episcopal  service.     A  beautiful  chancel  window  was  placed  in 

the  church  through  the  gifts  of  the  bishop's  family  and  clergy 

of  the  diocese  in  commemoration  especially  of  this  his  last 

public  official  act. 

ST.  LUKE'S  CHURCH,  HAVERSTRAW. 

The  early  history  of  St.  Luke's  Church  is  but  a  repetition 
of  the  story  of  Trinity  Church,  Haverstraw.  Until  the 
coming  of  the  Rev.  Walter  Delafield,  D.D.,  in  1869,  the  two 
congregations  at  Benson's  Corners  (now  West  Haverstraw) 
and  Warren  Village  (now  Haverstraw)  had  been  under  the 
direction  of  one  and  the  same  clergyman  and  vestry.     St. 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  301 

Luke's  was  incorporated  as  a  distinct  parish  September  18, 
1870.  Rev.  Walter  Delafield  was  chosen  rector,  and  Messrs. 
H.  D.  Batchelder  and  John  R.  McKenzie,  wardens.  Mr. 
Delafield  continued  in  charge  until  1873.  Rev.  E.  Gay,  Jr., 
served  as  rector  from  1874  to  1877.  On  Easter  Day,  April 
13,  1879,  the  Rev-  A-  T-  Ashton,  rector  of  Trinity  Church, 
held  his  first  service  in  St.  Luke's,  and  continued  in  charge 
until  March,  1881.  Rev.  John  Graham  was  rector  from 
March,  1881,  to  December,  1882.  The  rector  of  Trinity 
Church  was  then  again  appointed  by  the  bishop  to  minister 
to  the  parish,  and  was  subsequently  elected  rector.  The  fol- 
lowing are  the  statistics  since  the  incorporation  of  St.  Luke's : 
Baptisms,  88  ;  confirmations,  25  ;  present  number  of  communi- 
cants, 10.  The  present  wardens  are,  John  Oldfield  and 
Charles  C.  SufTren.  St.  Luke's  is  a  parish  but  in  name.  It 
is  now  and  has  always  been  a  mission,  depending  almost 
entirely  upon  the  services  of  the  successive  clergymen  in 
charge  of  Trinity  Church,  Haverstraw.  The  church  building 
was  purchased  from  the  Baptist  Society  in  1856,  and  the 
parish  is  now  indebted  to  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  for  its 
church  home. 

GRACE  CHURCH,  WEST  FARMS. 

This  parish  was  organized  December  13,  1844,  and  admit- 
ted into  union  with  the  Convention  in  1 848.  The  first  church 
was  built  in  1846-1847,  and  the  present  edifice  in  1885.  The 
rectors  and  clergy  in  charge  have  been  :  Rev.  Washington 
Rodman,  1 847-1 867  ;  Rev.  A.  H.  Gesner,  1867-1872;  Rev. 
Wm.  V.  Feltwell,  1872-1873;  Rev.  Robert  Scott,  1874-1876; 
Rev.  Edward  O.  Flagg,  D.D.,  in  charge,  1 877-1 881  ;  Rev. 
Washington  Rodman,  1881-1884;  Rev.  Alfred  Pool  Grint,  in 
charge,  1884-1885;  and  Rev.  Alfred  J.  Derbyshire,  since  June, 
1885,  rector  and  present  incumbent.  There  is  a  Sunday- 
school  building.  From  the  parish  records,  which  are  imper- 
fect, it  appears  that  288  baptisms  have  been  administered 
and  that  148  have  received  confirmation.  The  present  num- 
ber of  communicants  is  70.  The  wardens  in  1844  were  :  Wm. 
A.  Spenser  and   Philip    M.  Lydig;  in  1854,  P.  M.  Lydig  and 


302  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

J.  D.  Wolfe  ;  in  1864,  J.  D.  Wolfe  and  P.  M.  Spofford  ;  in  1874, 
Wm.  Simpson  and  Samuel  M.  Purdy,  and  in  1884,  Samuel 
M.  Purdy  and  James  L.  Wells. 

The  credit  of  first  establishing  the  church  at  West  Farms 
is  due  to  Miss  Margaret  Hunt.  In  1844  Grace  Church  was 
incorporated,  and  steps  were  taken  for  the  erection  of  a 
church  edifice.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  November  10, 
1846,  by  Rev.  Hugh  Smith,  rector  of  St.  Peter's  Church,  New 
York,  and  it  was  opened  for  Divine  service,  June  28,  1847,  by 
Rt.  Rev.  W.  H.  De  Lancey,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Western  New 
York.  For  a  period  of  twenty  years  Rev.  Washington  Rod- 
man was  its  rector,  and  during  this  period  the  church  made 
much  progress.  Then  followed  the  rectorship  of  Rev.  A.  H. 
Gesner,  which  was  eminently  beneficial  to  the  parish.  After 
this  many  reverses  were  experienced  which  for  a  time  threat- 
ened its  extinction.  In  1884  Bishop  Henry  C.  Potter  sent 
Rev.  Alfred  P.  Grint  to  take  charge  of  the  work,  and  during 
the  ten  months  of  his  labors  a  fresh  and  strong  impulse  was 
given  to  the  parish,  and  steps  were  taken  towards  the  erection 
of  a  new  church. 

In  June,  1885,  Rev.  A.  J.  Derbyshire  was  sent  to  take 
charge,  and  in  January,  1886,  accepted  the  rectorship.  The 
corner-stone  was  laid  September,  1885,  by  the  assistant 
Bishop,  and  the  new  church  opened  for  Divine  service,  Feb- 
ruary, 7,  1886,  on  which  occasion  the  rector  was  advanced 
to  the  priesthood.  The  prospect  for  the  future  is  very  bright 
and  encouraging,  as  the  people  are  working  unitedly  and  ear- 
nestly for  the  welfare  of  the  parish. 

CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN  BAPTIST,  NEW  YORK. 

This  parish  was  organized  in  1848.  The  first  church  was 
built  in  1849,  and  the  Present  edifice  in  1856.  The  rector, 
from  the  organization  until  the  present,  is  Rev.  Cornelius 
Roosevelt  Duffie,  D.D.  There  are  recorded  814  baptisms, 
and  516  have  received  confirmation.  The  present  number  of 
communicants  is  about  200.  The  first  wardens  were  :  Hon. 
Samuel  Jones  and  John  W.  Mitchell ;  those  now  in  office  are 
John  Dewsnap  and  John  M.  Burke. 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  303 

CHRIST  CHURCH,  PIERMONT, 

Was  organized  November  1,  1848,  and  the  church  built  in 
1864.  During  1848,  Rev.  Wm.  F.  Walker  and  Rev.  John 
Canfield  Sterling  were  successively  rectors  ;  Rev.  Solomon  G. 
Hitchcock,  1 849-1877  ;  Rev.  Joseph  M.  Waite,  1878-1883,  and 
Rev.  Theodore  M.  Peck  from  1883  to  1885.  At  present  the 
parish  is  without  a  rector.  Since  organization,  855  baptisms 
are  recorded,  and  176  as  having  received  confirmation.  The 
present  number  of  communicants  is  76. 

March  1,  1848,  Edward  Marriatt  and  John  Quackenbush 
were  wardens;  March,  1869,  George  A.  Jones  and  Floyd 
Bailey;  March,  1876,  William  Alexander  Smith  and  Henry 
A.  Blauvelt,  and  March,  1886,  Henry  A.  Blauvelt  and  Floyd 
Bailey. 

The  first  services  in  this  parish  were  held  by  Rev.  W.  F. 
Walker  in  Mr.  Lord's  lime-kiln  building  in  1847,  and  the  Rev. 
Solomon  G.  Hitchcock,  of  Sharon,  Connecticut,  began  his 
ministry  on  the  first  Sunday  in  Advent,  1849.  His  field  °f 
labor  comprised  the  whole  of  Rockland  County,  having  been 
appointed  missionary  over  that  jurisdiction.  He  established 
church  services  in  Nyack,  Spring  Valley,  and  Sufferns,  offici- 
ating occasionally  at  Haverstraw,  and  Norwood,  New  Jersey. 
To  his  efforts  is  also  due  the  existence  of  the  parishes  at 
Greenwood,  and  at  Ringwood,  New  Jersey. 

He  discharged  his  duties  faithfully  and  cheerfully;  and 
the  results  of  his  judicious  labors  can  now  be  seen  in  the 
vigorous  church  life  of  the  several  parishes  in  the  county. 
The  present  beautiful  Gothic  stone  church  at  Piermont  was 
built  and  entirely  paid  for  during  his  ministry.  He  entered 
into  rest,  September  14,  1877,  after  forty  years'  service  in  the 
ministry,  twenty-eight  of  which  were  spent  in  arduous, 
self-denying  labors  for  the  people  of  Rockland  County. 

ST.  THOMAS'  CHURCH,  AMENIA, 

Was  organized  February  26,  1849,  and  the  church  was  built 
in  1850.  The  rectors  have  been  :  Rev.  Homer  Wheaton,  1848- 


304  CENTENNIAL  CHURCH   HISTORY. 

1854;  Rev.  Sheldon  Davis,  1855-1856;  Rev.  Louis  French, 
1856-1857;  Rev.  O.  H.  Smith,  1857-1860;  Rev.  S.  R.Miller, 
1861-1863;  Rev.  Eugene  C.  Pattison,  1863;  Rev.  E.Web- 
ster, 1865-1868;  Rev.  J.  E.  Lindholm,  1870-1871;  Rev.  S. 
R.  Johnson,  S.T.D.,  1872-1873  ;  Rev.  Walter  R.  Gardiner, 
1874-1875;  Rev.  A.  T.  Ashton,  1875-1878;  Rev.  R.  B.  Van 
Kleeck,  1878-1880;  and  since  1882,  Rev.  S.  Seymour  Lewis, 
present  incumbent.  A  rectory  was  purchased  in  1876.  So 
far  as  can  be  gathered  from  imperfect  records,  178  have  been 
baptized,  and  105  have  received  confirmation.  In  1855  there 
were  44  communicants;  in  1865,44;  in  1875,  45;  in  1885, 
50,  the  present  number.  The  wardens  in  1850  were  :  Stephen 
Knibloe;  in  i860,  the  same;  in  1870,  Stephen  Knibloe  and 
Southard  Hitchcock,  and  in  1880,  C.  E.  Frost  and  John 
Knibloe. 

CHURCH  OF  THE  INTERCESSION,  NEW  YORK. 

This  parish  was  organized  December  22,  1847.  The  first 
church  was  built  in  1848,  and  the  present  edifice  in  1872.  The 
rectors  have  been:  Rev.  R.  M.  Abercrombie,  1847-1852  ; 
Rev.  W.  H.  N.  Stewart,  1852-1854;  Rev.  J.  Howard  Smith, 
1854-1870;  Rev.  Edward  Anthon,  1871,  February  to  April; 
Rev.  W.  M.  Postlethwaite,  1871-1874;  Rev.  E.Winchester 
Donald,  1875-1882 ;  Rev.  Bishop  Falkner,  1882-1883;  and 
since  January,  1884,  Rev.  H.  Morton  Reed,  present  incum- 
bent. The  chapel,  Bible-class  and  Sunday-school  rooms  are 
all  included  in  the  one  building.  The  parish  records,  previous 
to  1 871,  and,  indeed,  1874,  are  defective.  Since  1871  there 
are  records  of  258  baptisms,  and  since  1874  there  have  been 
181  confirmed.  The  present  number  of  communicants  is  260. 
The  wardens  in  1847  were  Abel  T.  Anderson  and  J.  R.  More- 
wood  ;  in  1848,  Mr.  Townsend  and  J.  R.  Morewood ;  in  1858, 
Warren  Hastings  and  Thomas  T.  Hayes;  in  1868,  B.W.  Van 
Voorhis  and  James  Monteith  ;  and  in  1878,  B.  W.  Van  Voor- 
his  and  Edmund  S.  Whitman. 


PARISH    HISTORIES.  305 

CHURCH  OF  THE  TRANSFIGURATION, 
NEW  YORK. 

This  parish  was  organized  in  1849.  The  church  was  erected 
in  1 849-1 850,  and  has  served  as  a  nucleus  for  several  enlarge- 
ments, at  successive  stages  of  church  growth.  The  parish  was 
founded  by  Rev.  George  H.  Houghton,  who  has  been  its  rec- 
tor from  the  beginning,  and  is  present  incumbent.  A  large 
clergy  house  stands  on  the  western  edge  of  the  grounds.  The 
number  of  baptisms  recorded  is  1,984,  and  about  1,000  per- 
sons have  received  confirmation.  The  present  number  of 
communicants  is  about  500.  At  the  organization  of  the  par- 
ish the  wardens  were  Abel  T.  Anderson  and  Arent  S.  De 
Peyster.  At  present  the  wardens  are  Gerardus  B.  Docharty 
and  Sidney  S.  Harris. 

In  a  sermon  preached  by  the  rector,  on  Sunday  morning, 
October  3,  1885,  he  said  :  "  It  is  thirty-seven  years  ago  to-day 
since  the  first  Transfiguration  service  was  held.  Great,  indeed, 
is  the  contrast  between  that  service  and  the  service  of  to-day. 
There  may  be  two,  not  more,  beside  myself,  here  to-day,  who 
took  part  in  that  service.  We  met  then  in  a  room  furnished 
to  us  by  the  venerable  Obed-Edom  of  the  Transfiguration, 
Rev.  Lawson  Carter,  now  long  since  gone  to  his  rest  in  Para- 
dise, in  whose  house  our  ark  found  sanctuary  until  hither 
brought  to  this  place,  then  but  a  portion  of  what  it  now  is, 
to  remain,  if  it  please  Him,  until  He  comes  again.  A  Bible, 
a  prayer-book,  a  surplice,  a  pine-wood  lectern — there  was  not 
a  dollar  in  hand  nor  the  promise  of  one — comprised  all  our 
possessions.  We  had  the  temporary  use  of  a  few  school 
benches,  and  a  cyphering,  wheezing  parlor  organ.  The  num- 
ber of  those  who  were  venturesome  enough,  with  an  inexpe- 
rienced, not  physically  over-strong  priest  and  pastor,  to  pro- 
pose and  attempt  the  organizing  and  establishing  of  a  new 
parish,  was  six."  "  It  is  five  years  ago  to-day  since,  on  each 
returning  morning,  at  seven  o'clock,  in  addition  to  whatever 
and  to  how  many  soever  other  occasions,  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  in  the  way  of  His  own  institution  and  appointment, 
has  been  present  here  upon  this  altar,  that  the  sacrifice  of  His 
20 


306  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

death  upon  the  cross  might  be  pleaded,  as  nothing  else  could 
be  pleaded,  for  the  whatsoever  needs  of  all,  whether  here  or 
elsewhere  ;  and  that  whosoever  would  might  be  fed  with  the 
life-giving  food  of  His  most  precious  Body  and  Blood." 

The  rector  accepted  the  choice  of  the  present  site  Math 
extreme  reluctance,  for  he  had  purposed  a  different  line  of 
pastoral  work,  among  the  wretched,  sick  and  destitute,  and 
had  already  entered  into  it,  day  and  night,  making  Bellevue 
Hospital  a  central  point.  He  says,  in  another  place  :  "  Belle- 
vue Hospital  then  not,  as  now,  blest  with  clerical  services,  was 
counted  as  a  peculiar  charge;  indeed,  its  every  ward,  almost, 
became  nearly  as  familiar  as  the  room  in  which  our  service 
was  held  ;  and  its  sick  and  dying  were  continually  comforted 
with  the  prayers  and  sacraments  of  the  Church.  Nor  was 
there  a  street  from  the  hospital  down  to  Twentieth  Street 
unassociated  with  the  memory  of  a  sorrow  assuaged,  a  want 
supplied,  or  a  deathbed  soothed."  But  the  present  site  was 
fixed  upon,  and,  with  $1,500  in  hand,  collected  from  friends 
and  the  handful  of  parishioners,  "  three,  one-half  of  our  pres- 
ent lots,  were  secured  by  part  payment,  and  through  the 
kindness  of  a  friend,  a  portion,  less  than  a  fourth  of  the  pres- 
ent edifice,  was  erected."  The  view  was  unbroken  to  Madi- 
son Square  below,  and  to  Murray  Hill  above,  a  crude,  un- 
promising outlook,  with  little  promise  of  what  followed. 

But  there  has  been  constant,  steady  growth,  root  and 
branch,  sometimes  slow  and  much-hidden,  but  always  growth. 
Little  by  little  the  church  has  grown,  by  pushing  out  first  in 
one  direction,  then  in  another,  as  exigencies  required  or  re- 
sources permitted.  Things  were  from  the  outset  pitched  on 
a  moderate  scale.  There  was  no  discounting  the  future.  The 
present  bore  its  own  burdens,  and  so  the  church  grew  into  its 
present  rambling,  but  picturesque  and  satisfactory  proportions, 
nearly  filling  the  south  and  west  sides  of  the  plot,  which  is  100 
by  1 75  feet,  fronting  on  Twenty-ninth  Street ;  the  clergy  house 
occupying  the  west  boundary,  thus  leaves  a  fair,  open  court 
of  beautifully  wooded  grounds  opening  on  the  street,  with  its 
flagged  walks,  its  fountain,  its  shade  and  bird-song.  The 
church  is  much  embowered,  so  that  in  the  season  of  foliage 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  307 

it  is  hardly  visible.  Simple  and  unpretending  without,  it  is 
"  all  glorious  within,"  with  its  devout  marble  altar  and  cor- 
rect liturgic  accessories  at  the  angle  where  the  long  nave  and 
its  one  transept  meet  ;  its  exquisite  baptistry,  its  valuable  and 
costly  pictures,  its  richly-varied  stained  windows,  and  its 
unique  memorial  window,  which  lights  the  choir  and  organ, 
its  carved  and  costly  pulpit  and  furnishings,  its  statuary,  and 
"  Stations  of  the  Cross."  There  is  an  odor  of  loving  sacrifice 
everywhere,  which  makes  for  the  visible  as  well  as  spiritual 
beauty  of  holiness.  Much  of  the  constant  pastoral  work  is 
among  the  wretched,  friendless,  and  fallen.  Day  and  night 
this  ministry  of  succor  and  consolation  goes  on.  Out  of  a 
single,  obscure  Providence  of  the  burial  of  a  baptized  man, 
grew  a  relation  with  the  whole  dramatic  profession,  full  of 
confidences  and  generous  sympathies  to  this  day,  which  else- 
wise  might  have  long  slumbered  undeveloped.  Indeed,  it  was 
only  a  practical  exemplification  of  the  rector's  favorite  motto, 
which  he  likes  to  Christianize  from  its  pagan  setting,  "  Homo 
sum  humani  nihil  a  me  alienum  puto." 

The  church  is  always  opened  from  the  rising  of  the  sun 
even  until  the  going  down  thereof,  for  public  or  private  devo- 
tion. Always,  day  and  night,  there  is  access  to  pastoral  minis- 
tration for  all  sorts  and  conditions  in  life.  Large  provision  is 
made  for  free  sittings.  There  are  day-schools,  Sunday-schools 
— one  for  colored  children  Sunday  afternoon.  There  is  an 
Altar  Society,  a  Missionary  Relief  Association,  the  Holy  Inno- 
cents' Guild,  the  Maternity  Society,  St.  Anna's  Guild,  and 
other  organized  working  agencies,  among  which  the  zealous 
and  devout  exercise  their  gifts  of  grace  and  faith. 

There  is  no  debt.  There  is  a  House  and  Home  of  the 
Lord,  where  the  rich  and  the  poor  meet  together,  and  there 
is  the  beginning  of  an  endowment  fund,  in  anticipation  of  fu- 
ture requirements,  already  amounting  to  $25,000.  The  par- 
ish has  also  founded  and  cares  for  a  Transfiguration  Mission 
Chapel  in  West  Sixty-ninth  Street,  under  the  ministerial 
charge  of  Rev.  E.  C.  Houghton.  Commenting  upon  the 
growth  and  fruitfulness  of  the  work  begun  in  so  much  weak- 
ness, the  writer  quotes  once  more  from  an  anniversary  sermon 


3o8  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

of  the  rector  :  "  Doubtless  the  general  zeal  and  faithfulness  of 
the  congregation  have  been  greatly  effectual,  and  the  one  idea 
of  the  rector,  Ecclesia  Dei!  Ecclesia  Dei!  the  Church  of  God  ! 
the  Church  of  God  !  the  Church  first,  the  Church  last,  the 
Church  the  thought  by  day  and  the  dream  by  night,  may 
have  contributed  somewhat  to  the  result." 

ST.  JAMES  THE  LESS,  SCARSDALE, 

Was  organized  September  3,  1849.  The  corner-stone  of  a 
church  edifice  was  laid,  June  29,  1850,  and  completed  and 
consecrated  June  28,  185 1.  It  was  burned  April  2,  1882, 
rebuilt,  using  the  same  walls,  and  consecrated  November  4, 
1883.  The  rectors  have  been:  Rev.  J.  F.  Le  Baron,  1850- 
1851  ;  Rev.  William  W.  Olssen,  1851-1871;  Rev.  Stephen  F. 
Holmes,  1871-1872  ;  Rev.  Henry  C.  Webbe,  1872-1873  ;  Rev. 
W.  A.  Holbrook,  1 874-1 877,  and  Rev.  Francis  Chase,  incum- 
bent, since  February  I,  1879. 

A  rectory  was  procured  in  i860,  and  Lang  Memorial 
Chapel  was  erected  in  1865,  by  William  Bailey  Lang,  in  mem- 
ory of  his  wife,  Mrs.  Susannah  H.  Lang.  Both  these  build- 
ings were  added  during  the  rectorship  of  Rev.  W.  W.  Olssen. 
There  are  recorded  263  baptisms,  and  155  have  received  con- 
firmation. In  1850  there  were  15  communicants  ;  in  1870,  73  ; 
in  1880,  81,  and  the  present  number  is  78.  The  wardens  in 
1850  were:  William  S.  Popham  and  Mark  Spencer;  in  i860, 
William  H.  Popham  and  Charles  W.  Carmer ;  in  1870,  Wil- 
liam S.  Popham  and  James  S.  Connell,  and  in  1880,  William 
S.  Popham  and  Lewis  C.  Popham. 

CHURCH  OF  THE  HOLY  INNOCENTS,  HIGHLAND 

FALLS, 

Was  organized  in  1847  an^  incorporated  in  1850.  The 
church  was  built  in  1847  anc*  consecrated  July  1st  of  that 
year.  The  rectors  have  been:  Rev.  Charles  H.  Hall,  1847- 
1848  ;  Rev.  Thomas  S.  Preston,  part  of  1848  ;  Rev.  J.  Breck- 
enridge  Gibson,  1849-1853  ;  Rev.  Henry  E.  Duncan,  1853- 
1854;  Rev.  Minot  E.  Wells,  1854-1872,  and  from  July  14, 
1872,  Rev.  William  Reed  Thomas,  still  in  charge. 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  3°9 

A  rectory  was  procured  in  1849  or '50,  and  enlarged  in 
1872.  A  school-house,  of  wood,  was  built  during  the  rector- 
ship of  Rev.  J.  B.  Gibson.  There  have  been  882  baptisms 
recorded,  and  309  have  received  confirmation.  The  present 
number  of  communicants  is  104. 

The  founder  of  this  parish  was  Professor  Robert  W.  Weir, 
for  a  long  period  the  celebrated  artist — Professor  of  the  Mili- 
tary Academy  of  West  Point.  He  designed  the  church,  and 
was  so  much  the  largest  contributor,  in  providing  for  its  cost, 
that  it  became  generally  known  as  Professor  Weir's  Memorial 
Church.  This  was  not  only  a  gift  of  devotion,  but  of  sacri- 
fice ;  for  the  professor  had  no  private  fortune,  and  it  is  gen- 
erally understood  that  most  of  the  sum  he  received  from 
the  government  for  his  picture  in  the  Capitol  at  Washington 
was  consecrated  to  this  pious  undertaking.  The  church  is 
built  of  the  stone  quarried  on  the  spot,  and  is  Gothic  in 
design.  There  is  fascination  in  its  rugged  simplicity  of  exe- 
cution and  the  general  plan  harmonizes  in  a  thoroughly  pic- 
turesque way  with  the  general  landscape.  This  church  is  mem- 
orable since  it  is  one  of  the  earliest  in  that  series  of  churches 
now  so  remarkable  a  feature  of  the  diocese  which  originate 
chiefly,  or  altogether,  in  the  munificence  of  an  individual  or 
family.  The  ground  on  which  the  church  stands  was  given  by 
the  late  William  B.  Cozzens  and  wife. 

CHURCH  OF  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT,  RONDOUT. 

This  parish  was  organized  in  1850.  The  first  edifice  for 
public  services  was  a  chapel  built  by  Miss  Verplanck,  about 
1845.  The  present  church  was  built  in  1861.  The  clergy 
connected  with  the  parish  have  been  (missionaries)  Rev.  Mr. 
Smithett  of  Esopus,  and  Rev.  George  Waters.  Rev.  George 
Waters  was  rector,  1854-1861,  and  at  the  same  time,  of  St. 
John's  Church,  Kingston  ;  acting  rector  for  part  of  1861,  Rev. 
Richard  Temple,  of  Esopus;  1861-1863,  Rev.  A.  H.  Ges- 
ner;  part  of  1864,  Rev.  David  Margot;  1864-1866,  Rev.  A. 
F.  Olmstead,  D.D. ;  1866-1870,  Rev.  Foster  Ely,  D.D.  ; 
1 870-1 875,  Rev.  J.  B.  Murray;  1 876-1 877,  Rev.  A.  Sidney 
Dealey  ;   1877-1881,  Rev.  F.  M.  S.  Taylor,  and  since   Easter, 


310  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

1882,  Rev.  Francis  Washburn,  present  incumbent.  A  rectory- 
was  provided  in  1861.  Since  1861  there  have  been  592  bap- 
tisms, and  343  have  received  confirmation.  In  1861,  there 
were  56  communicants;  in  1870,  134;  in  1877,  116,  and  in 
1885,  149,  the  present  number.  From  1883  to  date  the 
wardens  have  been  William  G.  Lounsberry  and  Samuel 
Dobbs.  The  number  of  families  is  130,  and  of  persons,  about 
600.     There  are  125  scholars  in  the  Sunday-school. 

The  church  property  was  the  gift  of  the  Delaware  and 
Hudson  Canal  Company  and  extends  the  entire  face  of  the 
block  between  Spring  and  Pierrepont  Streets.  There  are  two 
small  debts — $3,000  in  all — one  on  the  rectory  of  long  stand- 
ing which  was  reduced  last  year,  and  one  on  the  church  which 
was  placed  there  by  the  vestry  of  1879.  The  rectory  is  a 
handsome  framed  building,  two  stories  and  basement.  The 
church  is  built  of  blue  stone,  Norman  Gothic  in  architecture, 
and  with  sittings  for  450.  All  the  members  of  the  vestry  are 
communicants. 

ALL  SAINTS'  PARISH,  MILTON. 

This  church  was  incorporated  in  1850,  and  a  church  built 
in  1855.  The  rectors  have  been:  Rev.  Samuel  Hawksley, 
Rev.  Samuel  M.  Akerly,  Rev.  James  W.  Sparks,  Rev.  Joseph 
W.  Johnson,  and  Rev.  John  W.  Buckmaster.  The  parish 
records  are  very  imperfect.  So  far  as  can  be  ascertained, 
there  have  been  75  baptisms,  and  25  have  received  confirma- 
tion since  the  organization.  There  are,  at  present,  15  com- 
municants. 

ST.  MARY'S  CHURCH,  WEST  NEW  BRIGHTON. 

This  parish  was  organized  in  1849.  1ne  church  was  built 
in    1852.     The  rectors  have  been:    Rev.   Henry  B.  Barlow, 

1848-1850;    Rev.  S.  P.   Parker,  1850  ;    Rev.  H.  L.  E. 

Pratt,  1857 ;  Rev.  E.  McC.  Fiske,  1876-1880,  and  since 

1880,  the  present  incumbent,  Rev.  Alfred  G.  Mortimer.  A 
rectory  was  built  in  1858  and  school  buildings  in  1883,  by 
Rev.  Alfred  G.  Mortimer.  St.  Austin's  Church  School  for 
Boys  was  established  by  the  present  rector,  and  Revs.  G.  E. 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  311 

Cranston,  W.  B.  Frisby,  Evelyn  Bartow,  and  S.  B.  Lassiter, 
are  assistants  both  in  parish  and  educational  work.  For  this 
latter,  an  adjoining  estate  of  some  acres,  known  as  the  Garner 
Place,  has  recently  been  purchased,  with  improvements  and 
appliances  becoming  a  school  residence  of  the  highest  class. 
Owing  to  the  defective  state  of  the  parish  records,  it  is  im- 
possible to  supply  additional  particulars. 

CHRIST  CHURCH,  NEW  BRIGHTON, 

Was  organized  July  8,  1849,  an^  tne  church  erected  and 
opened  May  1,  1850.  The  rectors  have  been  :  Rev.  Pierre  P. 
Irving,  1850-1875  ;  and  Rev.  George  D.  Johnson,  since  1875 
to  the  present.  A  rectory  was  built  on  the  church  grounds  in 
1880.  In  1870,  Rev.  P.  P.  Irving,  rector,  a  spacious  and  well 
appointed  Sunday-school  building  was  erected,  immediately 
adjoining  the  church.  Since  the  organization  there  is  a  record 
of  774  baptisms,  and  270  have  been  confirmed.  The  present 
number  of  communicants  is  300.  The  wardens,  by  decades, 
were  :  in  1850,  William  I.  Pendleton  and  David  A.  Comstock  ; 
in  i860,  H.  L.  Routh  and  Beverly  Robinson  ;  in  1870,  Living- 
ston Satterlee  and  George  N.  Titus,  and  in  1880,  Livingston 
Satterlee  and  N.  Phelps  Stokes. 

ST.  MARK'S  CHURCH,  NEWCASTLE.* 

The  committee  has  received  no  report  from  this  parish, 
which  was  admitted  into  union  with  the  Convention  in  185 1. 
From  the  report  of  1885  to  the  Convention,  it  appears  that  at 
that  time  Rev.  Benjamin  T.  Hall  was  rector,  and  C.  Elliott 
Spencer  and  Charles  Dawson  wardens.  The  number  of  com- 
municants was  39.     There  are  no  other  available  statistics. 

CHURCH  OF  THE  MESSIAH,  RHINEBECK. 

This  parish  was  organized  August  18,  1852,  and  the 
church  was  erected  in  1853.  The  rectors  have  been  :  Rev. 
Richard  S.  Adams,  1852-1853;  Rev.  George  Herbert  Walsh, 
D.D.,  1854-1866;  and  since  November  4,  1866,  Rev.  Aaron 
F.  Olmsted,  D.D.,  the  present  incumbent.  A  rectory  was 
provided  in  1857,  and  enlarged  in  1884. 


312  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

During  the  ministry  of  Dr.  Walsh,  a  building  for  Sunday- 
school  and  lecture  room  was  erected  adjoining  the  church, 
December  28,  1862.  Also  during  the  same  rectorship,  a  free 
mission  chapel,  with  a  rectory  adjoining,  was  built  in  the 
neighboring  hamlet  of  Rhinecliff,  August,  1859.  This  chapel, 
under  charge  of  the  rector's  assistant,  was  sustained  by  the 
Church  of  the  Messiah  for  several  years,  until  it  was  placed 
under  an  independent  organization,  at  its  own  request,  as  the 
Church  of  the  Ascension.  Since  organization  244  baptisms 
have  been  recorded,  and  146  have  received  confirmation. 
The  present  number  of  communicants  is  65.  The  wardens  in 
1852  were:  Eliphalet  Piatt,  M.D.,  and  Isaac  F.  Van  Vliet ; 
in  1865,  Eliphalet  Piatt,  M.D.,  and  Theophilus  Gillender  ;  in 
1875,  Lewis  Livingston  and  Theophilus  Gillender,  and  in 
1885,  James  M.  DeGarmo,  Ph.D.,  and  Douglass  Merritt. 

The  village  of  Rhinebeck  having  been  for  some  time  past 
in  its  decadence,  and  there  being  four  other  Protestant  con- 
gregations in  the  place,  the  church  is  barely  able  to  hold  its 
own,  as  the  average  attendance  on  its  services  and  the  number 
of  its  baptisms  and  communicants  for  some  years  past  plainly 
demonstrates. 

CHURCH  OF  THE  INCARNATION,  NEW  YORK. 

This  parish  was  organized  April  19,  1852.  The  first 
church  building  was  erected  in  1849,  at  the  north-west  corner 
of  Madison  Avenue  and  Twenty-eighth  Street,  as  a  mission 
chapel  of  Grace  Church.  The  present  church,  at  the  north- 
east corner  of  Madison  Avenue  and  Thirty-fifth  Street,  was 
opened  December  11,  1864,  and  consecrated  April  20,  1865. 
The  rectors  have  been :  Rev.  Edwin  Harwood,  1852- 
1854;  Rev.  Henry  Eglinton  Montgomery,  D.D.,  1855  until 
his  decease  in  1874,  and  since  April,  1875,,  the  present  in- 
cumbent, Rev.  Arthur  Brooks.  The  rectory  adjoining  the 
church,  on  the  avenue,  was  completed  in  1869.  The  parish 
founded  a  mission  chapel  on  Thirty-first  Street,  near  Second 
Avenue,  now  known  as  the  Church  of  the  Reconciliation, 
although  still  dependent  upon  this  church,  and  not  in  full 
union  with  the  Convention.    It  was  opened  for  Divine  service 


PARISH    HISTORIES.  313 

May  3,  1861,  during  Dr.  Montgomery's  rectorship.  It  was 
enlarged  in  1877,  during  the  present  rectorship.  The  house 
next  to  the  mission  chapel  was  bought  and  altered  for  mission 
uses  in  1881.  In  the  Church  of  the  Incarnation,  903  baptisms 
are  recorded,  and  763  have  received  confirmation.  The  present 
number  of  communicants  is  500.  At  the  organization  the 
wardens  were  :  Murray  Hoffman  and  Christopher  F.  Bowne  ; 
in  1855,  Murray  Hoffman  and  John  Davenport  ;  in  1865,  S. 
M.Valentine  and  G.  F.  Nesbitt ;  in  1875,  D.  M.Valentine 
and  W.  B.  Clerke;  and  in  1885,  E.  M.  Crawford  and  G.  W. 
Smith. 

The  interior  of  the  church  was  burned  March  24,  1882. 
The  church  was  immediately  rebuilt  and  enlarged  by  the  ad- 
dition of  twenty  feet  at  the  chancel  and  a  transept  at  the 
north-east  corner.  The  church  was  reopened  December  24, 
1882,  and  was  decorated  in  the  summer  and  fall  of  1885. 

ST.  PETER'S  CHURCH,  PORT  CHESTER, 

Was  organized  April  12,  1852.  The  first  church  was  com- 
pleted July  15,  1844,  and  consecrated  by  Bishop  Onderdonk 
as  St.  Peter's  Chapel,  in  connection  with  Christ  Church,  Rye. 
The  church  was  enlarged  in  1855,  and  again  in  1873. 

As  St.  Peter's  Chapel,  a  mission  of  Christ  Church,  Rye,  it 
was  under  the  charge  of  Rev.  Peter  S.  Chauncey,  D.D.,  1834- 
1848  ;  and  Rev.  Edward  C.  Bull,  1848  until  date  of  incorpora- 
tion. As  St.  Peter's  Church,  the  rectors  have  been  :  Rev. 
Isaac  Peck,  1852-1858  ;  Rev.  George  C.  Pennell,  1858-1859; 
Rev.  Samuel  Hollingsworth,  D.D.,  1860-1872  ;  Rev.  Brock- 
hoist  Morgan,  1872-1879;  Rev.  J.  Garner  Rosenkrantz,  1880 
until  his  decease,  November,  1881  ;  and  Rev.  Edward  Kenney, 
B.D.,  May,  1882,  and  present  rector. 

A  commodious  rectory,  with  ample  grounds,  was  procured 
in  i860,  and  a  Sunday-school  chapel,  both  during  the  rector- 
ship of  Dr.  Hollingsworth. 

There  are  no  parochial  statistics  previous  to  1858.  Since 
that  date  570  baptisms  are  recorded,  and  377  have  received 
confirmation.     The  present  number  of  communicants  is  306. 


314  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

The  wardens  in  1852  were;  Willet  Moseman  and  James 
H.  Beers ;  in  i860,  C.  J.  Swords  and  Philip  Rollhaus  ;  in  1870, 
Philip  Rollhaus  and  Augustus  Abendroth  ;  in  1880,  the  same  ; 
and  in  1886,  Hanford  M.  Henderson  and  Augustus  M. 
Husted 

The  parish  church  burned  to  the  ground — a  wooden  struc- 
ture— December  15,  1883,  fired  by  a  spark  from  a  passing 
locomotive.  Tho  congregation  have  since  worshiped  in  the 
chapel.  About  $13,000  are  in  hand  towards  rebuilding  the 
church. 

ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH,  PLEASANTVILLE.* 

In  the  absence  of  any  response  to  the  committee,  it  is  at 
this  moment  only  possible  to  refer  to  the  parochial  report 
made  to  the  Convention  in  1885.  The  parish  was  admitted 
to  conventional  union  in  1853,  an<^  m  ^85  Rev.  Benjamin  T. 
Hall  was  rector,  and  Edward  C.  Hoag  and  Junius  Bard  war- 
dens.    The  number  of  communicants  was  35. 

ST.  JOHN'S,  TUCKAHOE, 

Was  organized  July  18,  1853.  The  first  church  edifice  was 
built  in  1798,  as  chapel  of  St.  John's  Church,  Yonkers.  The 
church  was  enlarged  in  1847,  an^  the  chancel  added  in  1867. 
The  clergy  in  charge  have  been  :  Rev.  Charles  Jones,  rector, 
1853-1858  ;  Rev.  Augustus  St.  Clair,  minister  in  charge,  1859— 
i860;  Rev.  David  Doremus,  minister  in  charge,  1860-1861  ; 
the  church  was  closed  1861-1865;  Rev.  Angus  Morrison 
Ives,  minister  in  charge,  1865-1880  ;  1880-1881,  services  were 
sustained  by  "  supplies  "  ;  Rev.  Samuel  B.  Moore,  rector,  1881- 
1884;  since  that  time,  Rev.  Charles  Ferris  has  been  in  charge. 
The  baptisms  recorded  are  188,  and  78  have  received  con- 
firmation. In  1853  there  were  15  communicants;  in  1863, 
39;  in  1873,64;  in  1883,  55;  and  the  present  number  is  47. 
The  wardens  in  1853  were:  John  Bowne  and  Christian 
Dederer;  in  1863,  Elias  C.  Bowne  and  Christian  Dederer ; 
in  1873,  Elias  C.  Bowne  and  William  D.  Smith  ;  and  in  1883, 
Charles  R.  Dusenberry  and  William  H.  Underhill. 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  315 

CHURCH  OF  THE  REDEEMER,  NEW  YORK, 

Was  organized  in  February,  1853.  The  first  church  was.built  in 
1853,  and  the  present  edifice  was  built  and  opened  November 
1,  1867.  The  rectors  have  been:  Rev.  Peter  S.  Chauncey, 
D.D.,  from  February  1  to  August  30,  1853  ;  Rev.  Wm.  J. 
Frost,  1853-1863  ;  Rev.  S.  Chipman  Thrall,  1863-1865  ;  and 
the  present  incumbent,  Rev.  John  W.  Shackelford,  D.D., 
since  July  1,  1865.  Since  organization  there  have  been  729 
baptisms,  and  729  have  received  confirmation.  In  1855, 
there  were  84  communicants;  in  1865,  115;  in  1875,  175; 
and  in  1885,  250,  which  is  the  present  number. 

The  wardens  in  1853  were:  William  Frost  and  Abraham 
Craig;  in  1863,  Morris  O.  Crawford  and  Elias  J.  Pattison  ;  in 
1873,  Elias  J.  Pattison  and  Rufus  B.  Cowing;  and  in  1883, 
Benjamin  Drake  and  George  D.  Bleythring,  M.D. 

The  Church  of  the  Redeemer  has  suffered  constantly  dur- 
ing the  twenty  years  of  the  present  rectorship  from  the  fluc- 
tuating character  of  the  population.  It  has  also  suffered 
from  the  want  of  a  proper,  permanent  church  building,  many 
persons  of  wealth  and  high  social  position  preferring  to  wor- 
ship among  their  acquaintances  in  a  stately  edifice.  Not- 
withstanding these  drawbacks,  the  growth  of  the  parish  has 
been  steady ;  an  important  spiritual  work  has  been  done 
among  the  middle  and  lower  classes,  and  there  is  no  debt. 
The  present  urgent  need  of  the  parish  is  a  permanent  church 
building  of  brick  or  stone. 

ST.  PAUL'S  CHURCH,  MORRISANIA, 

Was  organized  as  a  chapel  of  St.  Ann's  Parish,  Morrisania, 
July  8,  1849,  but  became  a  parish  under  the  title  of  St.  Paul's 
Church,  Morrisania  Village,  May  31,  1853.  The  church  was 
built  in  1849,  opened  Easter  Day,  1850,  and  consecrated  June 
22,  1850,  by  Rt.  Rev.  William  R.  Whittingham,  D.D., 
Bishop  of  Maryland.  The  rectors  have  been :  Rev.  A.  B. 
Carter,  both  rector  of  St.  Ann's  and  founder  of  St.  Paul's  ; 
Rev.  Benjamin  Akerly,  first  rector,  1853-1857  ;  Rev.  S.  G. 
Appleton,    1858-1868;  Rev.  F.  B.  Van  Kleeck,  1 868-1 870  ; 


316  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

Rev.  Thomas  R.  Harris,  1870,  and  present  incumbent.  A 
rectory  was  procured  in  1855.  The  number  of  baptisms 
recorded  is  750,  and  442  have  received  confirmation.  In  the 
first  list  there  were  59  communicants;  in  i860,  105  ;  in  1870, 
146;  in  1880,  145;  in  1885,  162,  and  the  present  number  is 
162.  The  first  wardens  were:  Charles  Dennison  and  William 
A.  Smith,  and  the  present  wardens  are  :  John  E.  Comfort, 
M.D.,  and  James  C.  Hull. 

CHURCH    OF   ST.    JOHN   THE    EVANGELIST, 
NEW  YORK. 

This  parish  was  organized  June  6,  1853.  ^ne  church  edi- 
fice was  built  by  the  Congregationalists.  The  rectors  have 
been:  Rev.  Edwin  R.  T.  Cook,  1853-1865;  Rev.  Robert  G. 
Quennell,  1866-1872;  Rev.  William  T.  Egbert,  1872-1876; 
Rev.  John  W.  Kramer,  M.D.,  1 876-1 880,  and  Rev.  B.  F.  De 
Costa,  D.D.,  since  April,  1881,  rector  and  present  incumbent. 
A  rectory,  at  259  West  Eleventh  Street,  was  purchased  in 
1877.  There  is  a  Sunday-school  building,  erected  prior  to  the 
church.  The  number  of  recorded  baptisms  is  1,796,  and  1,142 
have  received  confirmation.  The  present  number  of  com- 
municants is  estimated  at  300.  The  wardens  in  1853  were  : 
Charles  J.  Folsom  and  Hezekiah  Wheeler;  in  1863,  Martin 
Y.  Bunn  and  Alexander  Clinton  ;  in  1873,  Hamilton  R.  Searles 
and  Robert  Lawson,  and  the  same  in  1883. 

ST.  PHILIP'S  CHURCH,  NEW  YORK.* 

This  parish  was  received  into  union  with  the  Convention 
in  1853.  At  that  time,  Rev.  William  Morris  was  officiating 
minister,  and  there  were  about  200  communicants.  In  i860, 
Rev.  William  J.  Alston  was  the  officiating  minister  ;  in  1863, 
Revs.  S.  N.  Denison  and  N.  S.  Richardson  were  officiating  pro- 
visionally ;  and  Rev.  John  Morgan  in  1864;  in  1865,  Rev.  S. 
N.  Denison  was  minister  in  charge;  in  1867,  Rev.  B.  F.  De 
Costa  and  Rev.  John  Peterson,  deacon,  assistant;  in  1872, 
Rev.  William  J.  Alston,  rector;  in  1874,  rectorship  vacant; 
in  1875,  Rev.  J.  S.  Attwell,  rector  until  1882  :  in  1882,  Rev. 
J.  Treadwell  Walden,  minister  in  charge;  in  1883,  Rev.  Peter 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  3 17 

Morgan,  minister  in  charge,  and  incumbent  in  1885.  at  which 
date  the  number  of  souls  was  500;  and  of  communicants,  284. 
There  are  no  other  data  accessible.  In  the  Convention 
Journal  of  1832,  mention  is  made  of  this  parish  and  "Rev. 
Peter  Williams  (a  colored  man),  rector,"  and  reference  is 
made  to  a  yet  earlier  parish  report.  At  this  date  there  were 
203  communicants. 

ST.  ANN'S  CHURCH,  NEW  YORK. 

This  parish  was  organized  on  the  first  Sunday  of  October, 
1852.  It  was  incorporated  September  11,  1854,  and  received 
into  union  with  the  Convention  of  the  diocese,  October  28th 
of  the  same  year.  Having  worshiped  for  five  years  in  the 
small  chapel  of  the  New  York  University,  and  nearly  two 
years  in  the  lecture  room  of  the  New  York  Historical 
Society  building,  it  purchased  its  present  church  and  rectory 
on  Eighteenth  Street  near  Fifth  Avenue,  in  July,  1859. 
They  were  originally  Christ  Church  and  rectory  but  had 
passed  into  the  possession  of  a  Baptist  Society  by  exchange 
of  property.  The  Rev.  Thomas  Gallaudet,  D.D.,  has  been 
the  only  rector.  The  special  work  of  this  church  among 
deaf-mutes  having  increased  so  much  as  to  prevent  the  rector 
from  attending  to  a  portion  of  the  parochial  work,  Rev. 
Edward  H.  Krans  was  elected  associate  rector  in  October, 
1874,  with  the  view  of  his  being  the  pastor  of  the  hearing  and 
speaking  portion  of  the  parishioners.  He  continues  to  hold 
this  relation  to  the  parish.  The  rectory,  as  noted  above,  was 
purchased  in  July,  1859.  Tne  number  of  baptisms  is  1,709,  a 
large  proportion  being  deaf-mutes,  or  the  children  of  deaf- 
mutes.  The  number  confirmed  is  1,209,  3°3  being  deaf- 
mutes.  The  number  of  communicants  in  1862  was  325  ;  in 
1872,  490;  in  1882,  553,  and  the  present  number  is  540,  100 
of  whom  are  deaf-mutes.  The  wardens  in  1854  were:  Cyrus 
Curtiss  and  Robert  B.  Minturn  ;  in  1864,  George  R.  Jackson 
and  C.  C.  Lathrop  ;  in  1874  and  in  1884,  D.  Colden  Murray 
and  P.  P.  Dickinson. 

The  corporate  title  is,  the  Rector,  Church  Wardens,  and 
Vestrymen  of  St.  Ann's  Church  for  Deaf-mutes,  in  the  city 


3l8  CENTENNIAL  CHURCH   HISTORY. 

of  New  York.  Though  St.  Ann's  was  organized  with  special 
reference  to  parochial  work  among  deaf-mutes,  it  has  drawn 
around  them  a  large  number  of  their  hearing  brethren.  The 
parish  is  thus  composed  of  two  classes  of  people,  with  services 
adapted  to  each.  St.  Ann's  is  a  free  church  with  frequent 
services  on  Sunday,  and  two  services  daily  during  the  week. 
In  July,  1859,  it:  purchased  its  present  property  for  $70,000, 
assuming  a  mortgage  of  $50,000  at  seven  per  cent,  interest. 
Its  present  mortgage  debt  is  $20,000  at  five  per  cent.  In  view 
of  its  special  care  of  deaf-mutes  and  its  large  missionary  work 
among  the  poor,  it  asks  those  who  have  the  means  to  aid  it  in 
canceling  the  remaining  indebtedness.  St.  Ann's  receives 
$1,000  a  year  from  Trinity  Parish. 

ST.  TIMOTHY'S  FREE   CHURCH,  NEW  YORK. 

This  parish  was  organized  in  May,  1853,  and  admitted  to 
union  with  the  Convention  in  1854.  The  first  church  was 
built  on  Fifty-fourth  Street,  west  of  Eighth  Avenue.  In 
1867  the  present  church  was  built  on  Fifty- seventh  Street, 
west  of  Eighth  Avenue.  The  clergy  connected  with  the 
parish  have  been:  Rev.  James  C.  Tracy,  as  rector,  in  1854, 
continuing  about  one  year  and  six  months;  in  1856,  Rev. 
Geo.  Jarvis  Geer,  reported  to  the  Convention  as  holding  serv- 
ices since  November  1,  1855;  in  1858-59,  Rev.  Richard  C. 
Hull  was  assistant,  and  reported  as  minister  in  charge;  in 
i860,  Rev.  Geo.  Jarvis  Geer,  D.D.,  and  Rev.  Wm.  Tatlock, 
D.D.,  reported  as  in  charge ;  from  that  time  Dr.  Geer  was 
associate  rector  of  the  Parish  of  the  Holy  Apostles,  and 
also  rector  of  St.  Timothy's  Church.  In  1866,  Dr.  Geer  re- 
signed his  connection  with  the  Parish  of  the  Holy  Apostles, 
and  devoted  himself  exclusively  to  St.  Timothy's  Parish,  until 
his  sudden  decease,  March  16,  1885.  The  parish  remained 
without  a  rector  until  January  31,  1886,  when  Rev.  E.  Spruille 
Burford  entered  upon  the  rectorship.  A  rectory  was  built  in 
1872,  but  was  sold  in  1885,  the  proceeds  being  used  in  reduc- 
ing the  debt  upon  the  church  property.  The  number  of  bap- 
tisms recorded  is  1,101,  and  692  have  received  confirmation. 
In   1854  there  were  65  communicants  ;  in  1864,  161  ;  in  1874, 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  319 

278,  and  in  1884,  462.  The  wardens  in  1854  were  :  Anthony 
B.  McDonald  and  John  Carey,  Jr. ;  in  1864,  A.  B.  McDonald 
and  Daniel  C.  Spencer;  in  1874,  John  J.  Smith  and  George 
J.  Montague,  and  the  same  in  1884. 

The  late  rector,  Dr.  Geer,  was  endeared  to  his  people  by 
his  rare  personal  and  pastoral  qualities ;  besides  he  enjoyed  a 
wide  relation  with  the  Church  at  large  on  account  of  his  ac- 
complishments as  a  church  organist  and  composer,  and  also  his 
association  with  Dr.  Muhlenbergh  in  the  preparation  of  the  first 
Church  Tune  Book,  which  was  a  setting  to  music  the  selec- 
tion of  psalms  and  hymns  formerly  bound  up  with  the  Prayer 
Book,  the  first  attempt  made  by  the  General  Convention  to 
advance  the  culture  of  congregational  singing.  This  church 
has  always  been  free.  The  parish  is  in  urgent  need  of  a  large 
edifice,  and  on  Easter  Day  $16,000  was  contributed  at  the 
Offertory  towards  this  work.  The  parish  owns  five  lots, 
vacant  for  this  purpose.  The  church  worship  has  always 
been  marked  by  its  earnestness  and  the  prevalence  of  con- 
gregational singing.  The  Sunday-school  has  between  300 
and  400  members. 

GRACE  CHURCH,  PORT  JERVIS, 

Was  organized  in  1854;  the  first  church  was  built  in  1856, 
and  the  present  edifice  in  1870.  The  succession  of  rectors 
has  been  :  Revs.  John  Grigg,  Halsey,  and  C.  H.  Canfield, 
whose  terms  of  service  are  unrecorded  ;  and  Rev.  J.  P.  Apple- 
ton,  1868-1871;  Rev.  F.  W.  Luson,  1871-1874;  Rev.  J.  G. 
Rosencrantz,  1875-1880;  Rev.  A.  Capron,  1880-1882  ;  Rev. 
L.  P.  Clover,  D.D.,  1 882-1 883;  Rev.  J.  B.  Shepherd,  1884, 
and  present  incumbent.  The  records  are  incomplete,  but  the 
ascertained  number  of  baptisms  is  380,  and  of  confirmations 
304.  There  is  no  record  of  communicants  before  1871,  at 
which  time  there  were  27  ;  in  1881,  76,  and  the  present  num- 
ber is  105.  At  the  first  decade  the  wardens  were:  Col. 
Samuel  Fowler  and  John  Fielding;  at  the  second,  Col. 
Samuel  Fowler  and  Thomas  Scholes ;  at  the  third,  Charles 
Cooper  and  Edgar  Brodhead  ;  and  at  the  fourth,  John  Dut- 
ton  and  Thomas  Laidley.     Services  were  first  held    in    an 


320  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

upper  hall  of  the  building  opposite  the  Fowler  House,  be- 
tween New  Jersey  Avenue  and  Front  Street.  Bishop  Wain- 
wright  confirmed  the  first  class  in  1854.  After  that  services 
were  held  in  the  building  on  the  south-west  corner  of  Main 
and  Fowler  Streets,  and  subsequently  in  Westbrook  Hall, 
until  the  basement  of  the  present  church  edifice  was  finished 
and  temporarily  roofed  over.  The  church  was  completed  and 
formally  opened  Easter  Sunday,  1874. 

ST.  JAMES'  CHURCH,  FORDHAM, 

Was  organized  July  25,  1853.  The  first  church  was  built  and 
opened  June  6,  1854,  and  the  present  edifice  June  10,  1865. 
The  rectors  have  been:  Rev.  Joshua  Weaver,  1854-1863; 
Rev.  Thomas  Richey,  1 863-1 867  ;  Rev.  C.  C.  Tiffany,  1867- 
1871  ;  Rev.  Mytton  Maury,  1871-1875;  Rev.  Joseph  A. 
Blanchard,  1875-1885,  and  since  October  4,  1885,  the  present 
rector,  Rev.  Charles  J.  Holt.  A  rectory  was  built  in  1884, 
during  Mr.  Blanchard's  rectorship.  Funds  are  now  being 
raised  for  a  parish  building  for  the  more  efficient  work  of  the 
Sunday-school,  the  Young  Men's  Guild,  Parish  Aid  Society, 
Sewing  School,  and  other  societies  connected  with  the  parish. 
Since  organization  357  baptisms  are  recorded,  and  252  have 
received  confirmation.  The  present  number  of  communi- 
cants is  215.  The  wardens  in  1853  were:  Lewis  G.  Morris 
and  Wm.  A.  Smith;  in  1863,  Moses  Devoe  and  Gustav 
Schwab,  and  the  same  from  1868  to  1886.  During  the  last 
decade,  and  under  the  earnest  and  faithful  rectorship  of  Rev. 
Joseph  N.  Blanchard,  the  parish  has  made  decided  progress, 
and  is  now  in  a  very  promising  condition,  and  must,  with  the 
growth  of  the  city  in  this  direction,  become  one  of  the 
strong  parishes  in  the  diocese. 

CHRIST  CHURCH,  RED  HOOK. 

This  parish  was  organized  by  the  late  Rev.  Henry  de 
Koven,  D.D.,  in  1854.  The  following  year  the  church  was 
built,  and  the  property  held  in  trust  by  Dr.  de  Koven  until 
1867,  when  it  was  organized  as  a  free  church  under  the  act  of 
incorporation  of  the  State.     Dr.  de  Koven  continued  rector 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  321 

until  1861.  He  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  John  W.  Moore, 
until  his  decease,  May  13,  1885.  He  was  succeeded  by  the 
Rev.  J.  R.  Lambert,  the  present  incumbent.  Since  the 
organization  299  have  received  Holy  Baptism,  175  have  been 
confirmed,  and  the  present  number  of  communicants  is  j6. 

THE  CHURCH  OF  THE  HOLY  COMFORTER,  NEW 
YORK  CITY, 

Is  a  mission  church  for  seamen.  It  has  no  regular  parish  or- 
ganization, but  is  under  the  control  of  a  Board  of  Managers. 
This  mission  has  been  established  about  forty  years.  The 
first  missionary  in  charge  was  Rev.  D.  V.  M.  Johnson, 
now  rector  of  St.  Mary's  Church,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  He  had 
charge  for  about  eight  years.  He  was  succeeded  by  Rev. 
Henry  F.  Roberts,  who  had  charge  nineteen  years.  The 
present  incumbent,  Rev.  T.  A.  Hyland,  took  charge  seven 
years  ago. 

TRINITY  CHURCH,  MOUNT  VERNON, 

Was  organized  October  21,  1856.  The  corner-stone  was  laid 
November  24,  1857,  and  the  first  service  held  in  the  finished 
church  was  on  Christmas  Day,  1859. 

The  rectors  have  been  :  Rev.  William  Samuel  Coffey, 
founder  of  the  parish,  till  1873;  Rev.  Charles  Seymour,  until 
1868,  actively  engaged  in  the  parish  work,  and  for  a  time 
recognized  as  rector;  Rev.  Clarence  Buel,  from  July,  1873,  to 
November  28,  1874;  Rev.  William  B.  Hooper,  1874-1878, 
and  from  January,  1879,  Rev-  Stephen  F.  Holmes,  the  pres- 
ent incumbent. 

Circumstances  in  its  earlier  history  have  distracted  the 
statistics  of  the  parish,  and  an  approximate  statement  only 
is  practicable. 

There  are  reported  to  December  31,  1885,  542  baptisms, 
and  up  to  the  same  date  218  have  received  confirmation.  In 
1875  there  were  178  communicants;  September  30,  1885, 
there  were  251,  and  the  present  number  is  about  265. 

The  wardens  at  the  time  of  incorporation  were :  Richard 
Baldwin  and   George  O.  Street  ;  in   1865,  Richard  Atkinson 


322  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

and  John  Stevens;  in  1875,  Edward  Martin  and  William  A. 
Seaver,  and  in  1885,  Gideon  Douglas  Pond  and  Archibald 
Murray  Campbell. 

In  1880  the  entire  church  was  carefully  repaired  and 
painted,  and  four  dormer  windows  introduced  in  the  roof  for 
ventilation.  At  the  same  time  a  new  pulpit,  richly  worked 
in  oak,  was  provided,  and  the  walls  of  the  chancel  beautifully 
decorated.  In  1884  the  chancel  was  rearranged  for  a  sur- 
pliced  choir,  the  key-board  of  the  organ  brought  near  the 
chancel  arch,  and  a  low  rood  screen  constructed  ;  the  paths 
in  the  church  grounds  were  also  flagged. 

Trinity  Church  Guild,  an  association  of  ladies,  was  organ- 
ized in  October,  1879,  ar>d  St.  Agnes'  Guild,  an  association 
for  girls,  was  organized  in  December,  1881. 

Trinity  Choir  League,  composed  of  members  of  the  choir, 
was  organized  in  June,  1885.  There  are  eight  or  nine  deaf- 
mutes  in  the  village  and  neighborhood,  and  occasional  serv- 
ices in  the  sign  language  and  the  interpretation  of  the  serv- 
ice are  held  for  their  benefit.  The  twenty-fifth  anniversaries 
of  the  incorporation,  of  the  laying  the  corner-stone,  and  of 
the  opening  of  the  church  have  been  duly  observed. 

ST.  MARY'S  CHURCH,  MOTT  HAVEN, 

Was  organized  September  9,  1857.  A  church  was  built  in 
1856,  and  the  present  edifice  in  1875.  The  rectors  have  been: 
Rev.   J.   P.   Hammond,    1856-1857;    Rev.  Geo.    C.   Pennell, 

1857 ;    Rev.    D.   F.    Warren,    1857-1859;     Rev.    Robert 

Lowry,  1859-1863  ;  Rev.  Eastburn  Benjamin,  part  of  1863  ; 
Rev.  J.  H.  H.  DeMille,  1864-1866;  Rev.  Francis  F.  Rice, 
1866-1870;  Rev.  Chas.  F.  Knapp,  1871-1874;  Rev.  C.  S. 
Stephenson,  1874-1878;  Rev.  Jas.  R.  Davenport,  1878-1883, 
and  since  1884,  Rev.  Harry  F.  Auld,  present  incumbent.  A 
Sunday-school  room  was  built  in  1882,  during  the  rectorship 
of  Dr.  Davenport.  The  number  of  baptisms  recorded  since 
organization  is  654,  and  335  have  received  confirmation.  In 
1857  there  were  36  communicants;  in  1877,  145  ;  the  present 
number  is  234.  The  wardens  in  1857  were:  Edward  Haight 
and  Samuel  Munn  ;   in    1867,   Edward    Haight  and  H.  N.  J. 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  323 

Goldie;  in  1877,  Lawrence  P.  Mott  and  William  H.  Sterling, 
and  at  present,  Walter  T.  Marvin  and  David  P.  Arnold. 

ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH,  CANTERBURY,  CORNWALL, 

Was  organized  July  17,  1858,  and  the  church  was  built  and 
opened  for  Divine  service  in  Advent,  1859.  ^  was  conse- 
crated August  5,  1875,  by  Bishop  Horatio  Potter.  The  suc- 
cession of  rectors  is  as  follows  : 

Rev.  Christopher  B.  Wyatt,  from  July,  1858,  to  Easter, 
1862  ;  Rev.  E.  B.  Cressey,  D.D.,  from  May,  1862,  to  Easter, 
1863;  Rev.  George  Seabury,  from  July,  1863,  to  May,  1864; 
Rev.  John  Gott  Webster,  from  November,  1864,  to  Decem- 
ber, 1865  ;  Rev.  William  G.  French,  from  April,  1866,  to  May, 
1871  ;  Rev.  D.  H.  Macurdy,  from  March,  1872,  to  October, 
1873;  Rev.  R.  Mollan,  from  January,  1874,  to  May,  1874; 
Rev.  John  F.  Potter,  from  October,  1874,  to  October,  1877; 
Rev.  Benjamin  S.  Huntington,  from  November,  1877,  to 
April,  1880;  Rev.  William  E.  Snowden,  from  May,  1880, 
present  incumbent. 

A  rectory  was  conveyed  by  deed  of  gift  to  the  parish  by 
Miss  E.  C.  Purdy  in  1876. 

A  Sunday-school  and  parish  building  of  brick,  with  brown 
stone  dressings  and  copings,  and  in  keeping  with  the  archi- 
tectural design  of  the  church,  was  built  at  the  rear  of  the 
chancel.  It  was  finished  and  furnished  in  1883  at  a  cost  of 
$2,500,  without  debt,  under  the  ministry  of  the  present  rector. 

There  is  also  a  mission  chapel  of  St.  John  at  Cornwall-on- 
Hudson,  occupying  a  leased  building,  with  Sunday-school 
and  evening  service  by  the  rector  every  Sunday. 

Since  organization  there  have  been  352  baptisms  (103  of 
which  were  administered  by  the  present  rector),  with  165  per- 
sons confirmed.  At  the  first  service,  1858,  there  were  3  com- 
municants ;  in  1863,  33  ;  in  1875,  59,  and  the  present  number 
is  104. 

In  1858  the  wardens  were  :  Alonzo  A.  Alvord  and  William 
A.  Bayard;  in  1868,  Thomas  P.  Cummings  and  N.  Chatfield, 
Jr. ;  in  1878,  Thomas  P.  Cummings  and  William  J.  Sherman  ; 
in  1885,  Thomas  P.  Cummings  and  Michael  Webster. 


324  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

The  communicants  and  official  acts  at  St.  John's  Mission 
Chapel,  Cornwall-on-Hudson,  are  always  included  in  the  re- 
ports of  St.  John's  Parish. 

CHURCH  OF  THE  ASCENSION,  RHINECLIFF. 

This  parish  originated  in  the  Free  Chapel  of  the  Messiah, 
which  grew  out  of  a  Sunday-school  established  in  1858  by 
Misses  M.  E.  Radcliff  and  Kate  Ardagh.  The  first  religious 
service  was  held  by  the  Rev.  Geo.  H.  Walsh,  D.D.,  August 
8,  1858.  He  continued  to  officiate  fortnightly  until  the  erec- 
tion of  the  chapel.  The  corner  stone  was  laid  by  Bishop  H. 
Potter,  Rev.  H.  E.  Montgomery,  D.D.,  delivering  the  address. 
The  church  was  consecrated  by  Bishop  H.  Potter,  June  10, 
1 861.  In  the  spring  of  1869,  the  rectory,  with  sufficient 
grounds,  was  provided.  The  chapel  with  the  adjoining  prop- 
erty, including  the  parish  school-house,  was  conveyed  to  the 
Church  Missionary  Society,  to  be  held  in  trust  as  a  free 
church,  under  the  title  of  the  Free  Church  of  the  Ascension. 
The  same  lady  also  gave,  by  will,  the  sum  of  $5,000,  the 
interest  of  which  should  be  devoted  to  the  salary  of  a  pastor. 
The  Church  of  the  Incarnation,  New  York  City,  presented  the 
bell  and  the  service  for  the  Holy  Communion.  The  Rev. 
Thomas  S.  Savage,  M.D.,  the  first  rector,  began  his  duties 
July  11,  1869. 

From  1858  to  1880,  the  organization  sustained  the  relation 
of  chapel  to  the  church  in  Rhinebeck,  and  was  ministered  to 
by  assistants  of  the  rectors  of  that  parish,  who  were  success- 
ively the  Revs.  Joseph  Kidder,  1862  ;  John  Cornell,  1863— 
64;  M.  Buckmaster,  1864;  Louis  VanDyck,  1864-66;  James 
Chrystal,  1867-68,  andDavid  Margot,  1868-69. 

The  rectors  in  sole  charge  have  been  :  Revs.  Thomas 
Savage,  M.D.,  1869-80;  G.  W.  Sinclair  Ayres,  1881  ;  John  T. 
Hargrove,  1881-84,  and  Thomas  L.  Cole,  1884-85. 

There  have  been  160  baptisms  ;  64  have  been  confirmed. 
The  number  of  communicants  in  1868  was  26;  in  1880, 
there  were  37,  and  at  this  date  there  are  26.  The  trustees 
are  William  Crusius,  Henry  Pearson,  and  George  Veitch. 


PARISH    HISTORIES.  325 

CHURCH  OF  THE  MEDIATOR,  SOUTH  YONKERS.* 

This  parish  was  admitted  into  union  with  the  Convention 
in  1858,  rector,  Rev.  Cornelius  Winter  Bolton,  at  which  time 
there  were  39  families  and  32  communicants.  In  1859,  Rev. 
Leigh  R.  Dickinson  is  reported  rector,  until  1866.  In  1868, 
Rev.  William  T.  Wilson  was  rector,  and  presumably  present 
incumbent.     No  other  data  are  accessible. 

ST.  PAUL'S  CHURCH,  YONKERS, 

Was  organized  December  13,  1858.  The  corner-stone  of  the 
church  was  laid  September  16,  1859,  tne  completed  edifice 
opened  Easter  Day,  i860,  and  consecrated  December  28, 
1865.  The  rectors  have  been:  Rev.  D.  R.  Brewer,  1859— 
1866  ;  Rev.  U.  T.  Tracy,  1866- 1869  ;  Rev.  S.  G.  Fuller,  1869- 
1871  ;  Rev.  D.  F.  Banks,  1871-1876;  Rev.  C.  Maurice  Wines, 
1876-1879,  and  Rev.  W.  H.  Mills,  D.D.,  since  February  1, 
1880,  rector  of  the  parish.  The  number  of  baptisms  recorded 
is  471,  and  291  have  received  confirmation.  In  the  absence 
of  any  list  of  communicants  from  1868-1880,  it  is  impossible 
to  exhibit  the  increase  by  decades.  The  present  number  is 
218.  The  wardens  in  1858  were:  Henry  Anstice  and  Dr.  J. 
Foster  Jenkins;  in  1868,  Dr.  J.  Foster  Jenkins  and  M.  T. 
Bolmer;  in  1878,  C.  W.  Seymour  and  Dr.  Samuel  Swift,  and 
the  same  in  1886.  The  Yonkers  Nursery  and  Home,  an  insti- 
tution for  the  care  of  children  under  eight  years  of  age,  and 
of  aged  women,  was  organized  by  members  of  St.  Paul's 
Parish,  opened  January  25,  1880,  and  incorporated  May, 
1884.  During  the  past  year  it  has  cared  for  25  children  and 
2  aged  women.  The  officers  are :  president,  Rev.  M.  H.  Mills, 
rector;  secretary,  E.  M.  LeMoyne,  and  treasurer,  C.  W.  Sey- 
mour. 

ALL  ANGELS'  CHURCH,  NEW  YORK* 

This  church  is  first  mentioned  in  the  parochial  reports  of 
the  Convention  Journal  for  1855,  Rev.  Thomas  McClure 
Peters,  rector,  and  Rev.  Charles  E.  Phelps  assistant.  It  seems 
to  have  been  chiefly  a  central  station  for  mission  work  among 


326  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

the  charitable  and  penal  institutions  of  the  city.  In  this  re- 
port it  is  stated  that  "  the  church  is  free,  and  stands  in  the 
midst  of  a  poor  population  of  colored  people  and  foreigners." 
The  parish  was  organized  in  December,  1858,  and  received 
into  union  with  the  Convention  in  1859.  The  same  year, 
Rev.  Mr.  Peters  retired,  and  Mr.  Phelps,  his  assistant,  became 
rector.  He  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  John  Moore  Heffernan, 
and  he,  in  turn,  by  Rev.  D.  F.  Warren,  D.D.,  in  1871.  The 
next  year  (1872)  Rev.  Wm.  N.  Dunnell  is  reported  rector. 
In  1873,  the  Journal  records  a  vacancy  in  the  rectorship.  In 
1874,  Rev.  Charles  Frederick  Hoffman,  D.D.,  is  mentioned 
as  rector,  and  is  present  incumbent.  In  the  Journal  re- 
port for  1885,  it  appears  that  there  are  138  families,  366  souls, 
and  121  communicants.  In  the  absence  of  any  report  from 
the  rector,  the  committee  is  unable  to  present  any  further 
statistics. 

ST.  BARNABAS',  IRVINGTON-ON-HUDSON. 

This  parish  was  organized  in  1858.  The  first  edifice  was 
built  in  1853,  and  enlarged  to  its  present  dimensions  in  1864. 
The  rectory  was  built  previous  to  1857,  and  acquired  by  this 
parish  in  1876. 

Since  the  organization  there  have  been  390  baptisms,  170 
have  been  confirmed,  and  the  number  of  communicants  in 
1853  was  n,  and  1883,  98.     The  present  number  is  106. 

In  the  first  decade,  1858,  the  wardens  were  :  William  A. 
Walker  and  N.  D.  Morgan  ;  in  the  second,  1868,  J.  L.  Adams 
and  George  Merritt ;  in  the  third,  1878,  William  A.  Haines 
and  George  D.  Morgan.  At  present  the  wardens  are  George 
D.  Morgan  and  Alexander  Hamilton. 

In  1852,  the  Rev.  William  A.  McVickar  was  appointed 
missionary  to  Dearman,  now  Irvington,  where  he  at  once 
gathered  a  congregation  and  commenced  the  services  of  the 
church.  A  stone  chapel,  the  nave  of  the  present  church,  was 
built  A.D.  1853,  chiefly  at  the  expense  of  his  father,  the  Rev. 
Prof.  John  McVickar,  D.D.,  who  presented  it  to  the  parish 
when  it  became  incorporated  in  1858,  the  lots  on  which  it 
stood  being  the  gift  of  Hon.  John  Jay,  of  Bedford,  a  plot  of 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  327 

land  in  the  village  being  also  donated  by  Mr.  Franklin  C. 
Field. 

In  1864  it  became  necessary  to  enlarge  the  church,  which 
was  done  by  resolution  of  the  vestry  in  1864,  after  plans 
designed  by  the  rector.  In  1867,  Rev.  Mr.  McVickar  resigned 
his  charge  after  fifteen  years  of  a  most  faithful  ministry,  dur- 
ing which  he  founded  a  parish  and  accumulated  a  very  valu- 
able church  property.  To  the  Rev.  William  McVickar  and 
to  the  Rev.  John  McVickar,  D.D.,  St.  Barnabas  must  ever 
look  as  to  its  most  liberal  and  chief  benefactors. 

The  present  incumbent,  the  Rev.  William  H.  Benjamin, 
D.D.,  was  called  to  the  rectorship  in  1867  and  is  now  in  the 
nineteenth  year  of  his  charge.  Under  his  ministry  the  debt 
found  upon  the  parish  was  paid,  the  church  decorated,  seven 
stained  glass  windows  erected,  additional  land  bought  and 
paid  for,  and  the  rectory  and  grounds,  built  and  owned  by 
Prof.  McVickar,  and  which  were  left  in  his  will  to  the  parish, 
subject,  however,  to  a  twenty  years'  lease  to  his  son  or  his 
son's  heirs,  was  acquired  by  purchase  of  the  lease  for  $5,867  in 
1876.  The  rectory  was  also  repaired,  and  an  addition  has  been 
built.  The  services  of  the  church  have  never  ceased  from  the 
foundation  of  the  parish,  and  the  report  to  the  Diocesan  Con- 
vention in  the  past  year  shows  that  members  of  the  parish 
have  contributed  the  sum  of  $17,284  for  parochial  and  general 
church  purposes.  The  parish  has  no  debt,  and  its  income 
from  pew  rents  and  collections  in  church  exceeds  its  ex- 
penses. 

CHURCH  OF  THE  REGENERATION,  PINE  PLAINS* 

This  parish  was  admitted  into  union  with  the  Convention 
in  i860.  The  first  rector  was  Rev.  Eugene  C.  Pattison,  mis- 
sionary, and  at  that  time  there  were  17  communicants.  In 
1863  there  was  a  vacancy.  In  1864  Rev.  Myron  A.  Johnson 
was  in  charge;  a  vacancy  in  1866  continuing  until  1879,  when 
Rev.  John  H.  Nemmis  is  recorded  as  missionary.  In  1883 
Rev.  John  C.  S.  Wells  was  in  charge.  There  was  no  report 
in  1885  to  the  Convention.  In  1880,  the  latest  report  on 
record,  there  were  9  communicants. 


328  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

ST.  PAUL'S   CHURCH,  NEWBURGH. 

This  parish  was  organized  in  April,  i860,  and  incorporated 
September  11,  i860.  The  church  was  built  during  the  same 
year.  The  present  church  edifice  was  built  in  1867.  The 
rectors  have  been  :  Rev.  Hobart  Chetwood,  1860-1872,  and 
Rev.  Rufus  Emery,  the  present  incumbent,  since  1872.  Since 
organization  there  have  been  474  baptisms  and  312  have  re- 
ceived confirmation.  In  1870  there  were  160  communicants; 
in  1880,  140,  and  the  present  number  is  162.  In  i860  the 
wardens  were:  D.  M.  Clarkson  and  W.  E.  Warren;  in  1870, 
J.  S.  Heard  and  W.  R.  Eaton,  and  in  1880,  J.  J.  Logan  and 
S.  P.  Church,  M.D. 

CHRIST   CHURCH,  RAMAPO, 

Was  organized  August  25,  i860.  The  church  was  built  in 
the  summer  of  1861  and  consecrated  June  10,  1864.  The 
several  rectors  have  been  :  Rev.  Eastburn  Benjamin,  from 
March  to  September,  1862;  Rev.  F.  N.  Luson,  no  date;  Rev. 
Henry  R.  Howard,  1864-1866;  Rev.  John  J.  Roberts,  May 
to  December,  1867;  Rev.  John  Stace,  June  to  December, 
1868;  Rev.  Charles  B.  Coffin,  1869-1870;  Rev.  Joseph  F. 
Jowitt,  1870-1871  ;  Rev.  Edwin  J.  K.  Lessel,  1872-1873;  Rev. 
Alford  B.  Leeson,  February  to  August,  1873;  Rev.  Gustave 
E.  Perucker,  1873-1876;  Rev.  F.  H.  Horsfield,  1876-1878; 
Rev.  Romaine  S.  Mansfield,  April,  1878,  and  present  incum- 
bent. A  rectory  and  lot  were  presented  to  the  parish  July, 
1882,  by  Mr.  David  Groesbeck,  and  a  building  was  erected  in 
1 87 1  for  a  parish  school  and  rector's  study.  There  have  been 
386  baptisms,  and  y6  have  received  confirmation.  The  pres- 
ent number  of  communicants  is  55.  At  organization  the 
wardens  were  David  Groesbeck  and  Alexander  Hamilton. 
The  present  wardens  are  Theodore  Hoff  and  H.  R.  Sloat. 
The  earlier  records  of  the  parish  are  lost,  and  it  is,  therefore, 
impossible  to  give  a  complete  history. 


PARISH    HISTORIES.  329 

ALL   SOULS'   CHURCH.     MEMORIAL   OF   HENRY 
ANTHON,    D.D.,   NEW   YORK. 

This  parish  was  organized  October  9,  1859.  The  church 
was  completed  early  in  1861,  and  the  parish  was  the  same 
year  received  into  the  Convention.  The  rectors  have  been: 
Rev.  Edward  Anthon,  1861-1864;  Rev.  Thomas  A.  Jaggar, 
afterwards  Bishop  of  Southern  Ohio,  1 864-1 869,  and  Rev. 
R.  Heber  Newton,  rector  since  June,  1869.  Among  the 
parish  works  is  "All  Souls'  Home  by  the  Sound,"  a  group  of 
six  cottages  on  Roslyn  Harbor,  near  Sea  Cliff,  Long  Island, 
amid  eight  acres  of  woodland  running  down  to  the  bay,  used 
for  a  summer  rest  for  poor  children,  built  in  1884,  Rev.  R. 
Heber  Newton,  rector.  The  baptisms  since  organization 
are  512,  and  553  have  received  confirmation.  In  1870  there 
were  250  communicants;  in  1880,  478,  and  at  present  there 
are  626.  The  wardens  in  i86i.were:  Galen  Carter,  M.D.,and 
S.  N.  R.  Morse  ;  in  1870,  John  Wheeler  and  Frederick  D.  Tap- 
pen  ;  and  in  1880,  Frederick  D.  Tappen  and  William  Tracy. 

ST.   JOHN'S   CHURCH,   WILMOT* 

This  parish  was  received  into  union  with  Convention  in 
1861.  From  the  Convention  Journal  of  1855  it  appears  that 
the  rectorship  was  vacant  and  that  Clark  Davis  was  warden. 
There  were  41  communicants.  No  more  of  the  required  sta- 
tistics are  at  hand. 

GRACE   CHURCH,   NYACK, 

Was  organized  in  October,  1861,  and  the  first  church  was 
built  in  1861-1862.  The  present  church  was  first  used  for 
Divine  service  on  Easter  Day,  April  13,  1879.  The  Rev. 
Franklin  Babbitt  has  been  rector  from  the  organization  until 
the  present  time.  The  first  church  edifice  is  now  used  as  a 
chapel.  Since  organization  276  baptisms  are  recorded,  and 
247  have  received  confirmation.  In  1861  there  were  about  8 
communicants;  in  1871,97;  in  1881,  160,  and  at  present  there 
are  240.  The  first  wardens  in  1861  were:  James  S.  Aspinwall 
and  William  L.  Stillwell ;  in  1871,  the  same,  and  in   1881,  F. 


330  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

L.  Nichols  and  George  Wilcoxson.  The  history  of  the 
growth  of  this  parish  is  one  of  perseverance,  patience  in  well 
doing,  and  watchful  fidelity  among  duties  and  opportunities. 
The  present  beautiful  and  impressive  stone  church,  in  excel- 
lent Gothic,  grew  almost  stone  by  stone,  but  without  debt, 
until,  in  the  faces  of  the  doubting  and  incredulous,  it  reached 
completion  after  the  lapse  of  years,  one  among  the  many 
admirable  churches  that  adorn  the  banks  of  the  Hudson. 

CHURCH  OF  THE  RECONCILIATION,  A  MISSION 
OF  THE  PARISH  OF  THE  INCARNATION, 
NEW   YORK, 

Was  organized  in  1858.  The  church  was  built  and  opened 
May  3,  1 86 1,  and  enlarged  in  1876.  The  clergy  in  charge 
have  been:  Rev.  Matthias  Willing,  1858-1860;  Rev.  T.  R. 
Chapman,  1860-1864;  Rev.  W.  B.  Morrow,  May  to  Decem- 
ber, 1864;  Rev.  Benjamin  S.  Huntington,  1865-1866;  Rev. 
Percy  Brown,  1 866-1 867  ;  Rev.  N.  L.  Briggs,  1867-1871  ; 
Rev.  R.  W.  Elliott,  1871  — ;  Rev.  W.  T.  Egbert,  1871-1872  ; 
Rev.  E.  S.  Widdemer,  1872-1882,  and  Rev.  Newton  Perkins 
in  charge  since  1882.  There  is  a  parish  house  of  brick  three 
stories  in  height  adjoining  the  church  which  was  purchased 
in  1881,  under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Mr.  Widdemer.  Since 
organization,  1,835  baptisms  have  been  recorded  and  719  have 
received  confirmation.  The  present  number  of  communi- 
cants is  350.  The  church  property  is  under  the  direction  of 
a  Board  of  Trustees  who  are  members  of  the  Parish  of  the 
Incarnation.  There  are  guilds,  societies,  reading-rooms,  and 
suitable  means  for  recreation  and  social  improvement  adapted 
to  all  ages  and  conditions  in  the  parish. 

ST.    MARK'S   MEMORIAL   CHURCH,   MOUNT 
PLEASANT. 

This  church  was  first  organized  as  a  mission  of  Christ 
Church,  Tarrytown,  in  1857.  The  Rev.  William  Creighton, 
D.D.,  was  at  that  time  rector  of  Christ  Church,  and  Rev. 
Franklin  Babbitt  had  charge  of  the  mission  until  1861,  when 
Rev.  Edmund  Guilbert  succeeded  him.    Two  years  afterward 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  331 

the  mission  became  an  incorporated  parish  under  the  present 
title.  In  1865  the  present  structure,  commemorative  of 
Washington  Irving,  was  begun.  The  architect  was  James 
Renwick.  The  building  was  Gothic  in  design,  constructed 
solidly  in  stone,  having  a  commanding  and  symmetrical  ex- 
terior, and  within  unique  and  beautiful.  All  the  windows, 
which  are  costly  and  artistic,  were  presented  as  memorials. 
The  interior  is  richly  and  appropriately  furnished.  The  tower 
was  left  unfinished,  to  be  built  as  an  especial  memorial  of 
Washington  Irving,  a  project  which  as  yet  remains  unexe- 
cuted. The  building — tower  excepted — was  completed  a  few 
years  ago  and  used  for  Divine  worship.  On  account  of  a  debt 
of  a  few  thousand  dollars  it  was  not  consecrated  until  1880. 
Rev.  Mr.  Guilbert  continued  rector  until  1876.  The  commu- 
nicants were  about  100.  His  successor  was  Rev.  Mytton 
Maury,  D.D.,  who  remained  two  years.  Rev.  J.  F.  Herrlish 
was  rector  from  1878  to  1884.  He  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  J. 
B.  Jennings,  who  remained  until  October,  1885.  March  16, 
1886,  Rev.  Martin  K.  Schermerhorn  was  elected  rector  and 
entered  upon  his  duties  on  the  first  Sunday  in  Lent.  The 
vestry  purpose  an  early  attempt  to  erect  the  spire.  Owing 
to  defective  records  the  rector  has  not  as  yet  been  able  to 
reach  the  data  of  parish  work  called  for  by  the  committee. 

THE  CHURCH  OF  THE  HOLY  TRINITY, 
NEW  YORK. 

This  parish  was  organized  April  4,  1864.  The  first 
church  was  completed  Easter,  1865,  and  consecrated  Decem- 
ber 21,  1865.  The  present  church  was  erected  in  1873.  The 
Rev.  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  Jr.,  D.D.,  was  rector  from  1864,  un- 
til his  retirement  in  1881,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Rev. 
Wilbur  F.  Watkins,  D.D.,  the  present  rector.  A  rectory  was 
built  in  1869.  A  Sunday-school  building,  with  church  parlors 
and  rector's  study,  was  built  in  1867,  fronting  Forty-third 
Street  and  extending  back  to  the  church.  There  have  been 
1,351  baptisms  recorded,  and  1,231  persons  have  received  con- 
firmation.    In   1865  there  were  500  communicants;  in  1875, 


332  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

1,000,  and  in  1885,  1,200,  which  is  the  present  number.  The 
wardens  in  1865  and  1875  were  Robert  Dumart  and  S.  H. 
Hurd,  and  in  1885,  S.  H.  Hurd  and  Adon  Smith. 

CHRIST  CHURCH,  RIVERDALE,  NEW  YORK. 

This  parish  was  organized  in  1865,  and  the  church  built  in 
1865-1866.  The  rectors  have  been:  Rev.  E.  M.  Pecke,  one 
year  from  the  organization,  and  since  1867,  Rev.  George  D. 
Wildes,  D.D.,  present  incumbent.  The  rectory  was  purchased 
in  1877,  and  repaired  and  enlarged  in  1883.  The  baptisms 
recorded  are  about  1 16,  and  75  have  received  confirmation. 
The  present  number  of  communicants  is  150.  The  wardens 
in  1865  were  Newton  Carpenter  and  Henry  L.  Stone,  and 
in  1875,  Edward  Prime  and  Henry  L.  Stone.  Owing  to 
the  recent  severe  illness  of  the  rector  the  data  concerning 
the  work  of  the  parish  are  necessarily  incomplete.  The 
growth  of  the  parish  was  closely  connected  with  an  attempt 
to  establish  a  seminary  for  girls  at  Riverdale,  and  gen- 
erous expenditures  were  made  to  promote  the  enterprise, 
which  was  afterwards  abandoned.  The  church  is  built  of 
stone,  rural  Gothic  in  design,  and  one  of  the  most  picturesque 
and  admirably  appointed  in  the  diocese.  All  the  windows 
are  of  English  glass,  and  considered  among  the  most  interest- 
ing in  the  country.  The  present  rectorship  is  especially  iden- 
tified with  the  establishment  and  successful  development  of 
the  Church  Congress,  of  which  Dr.  Wildes  was  one  of  the 
original  founders.  Now  lying  within  the  corporation  limits 
of  New  York,  the  rapid  movement  of  population  towards 
Riverdale  suggests  a  very  important  work  for  this  church  in 
the  early  future. 

CHURCH  OF  THE  HOLY  SEPULCHRE,  NEW 
YORK, 

Was  organized  January  3,  1866.  The  church  was  built  and 
opened  November  16,  1868.  The  Rev.  J.  Tuttle-Smith,  D.D., 
was  elected  rector  January  9,  1866,  and  is  present  incumbent. 
There  is  a  record  of  260  baptisms,  and  198  have  received  con- 
firmation.    In    1876   there    were    80  communicants,  and    in 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  333 

1885  there  were  200,  which  is  the  present  number.  The 
wardens  for  1 866-1867  were  Joseph  Curtis  and  Timothy 
Matlock  Cheeseman,  M.D. ;  from  1867  to  1885,  Dr.  Cheese- 
man  and  Stephen  Merrihew,  and  those  now  serving  are  John 
A.  Thomas  and  James  Campbell.  This  church  has  been  sus- 
tained as  a  free  church  since  its  organization,  and  has  de- 
pended solely  on  the  Sunday  contributions  for  its  support. 

TRINITY  CHURCH,  MADALIN. 

This  was  a  missionary  station  for  ten  years,  when  it  be- 
came an  organized  parish.  The  church  was  built  in  1854,  and 
adapted  to  the  purposes  of  education  as  well  as  Divine  wor- 
ship.    It  was  enlarged  in  1885. 

The  Rev.  James  Starr  Clark,  S.T.D.,  has,  from  1855  to  the 
present,  served  as  missionary  and  rector.  During  his  ministry 
there  have  been  345  baptisms,  and  150  have  received  con- 
firmation. In  1855  there  were  4  communicants  ;  in  1865,50; 
in  1875,  63  ;  in  1885,  64,  and  the  present  number  is  6j.  The 
wardens  for  the  decades  have  been  :  George  F.  Simmons  and 
John  H.  Hager  ;  John  H.  Hager  and  John  D.  Rockefeller,  and 
John  H.  Hager  and  Joseph  A.  Shaw. 

This  parish  had  its  beginning  in  a  mission  day-school  be- 
gun in  November,  1853,  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Bard.  The 
school,  from  the  first,  was  under  the  direction  of  Jas.  Starr 
Clark,  a  candidate  for  orders,  who  was  ordained  deacon  in 
June,  1854.  The  school  was  removed  into  the  present  church 
and  school  building  early  in  January,  1855.  The  first  Sun- 
day-school service  was  held  in  the  chapel  the  first  Sunday  in 
January,  1855,  by  the  present  rector.  A  parish  school  was 
maintained  in  connection  with  this  church  by  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Bard  for  twelve  years,  in  which  free  instruction  was  given 
to  some  70  pupils  by  an  efficient  corps  of  teachers.  In 
process  of  time,  "Trinity  School,  Tivoli,"  a  boarding-school 
for  boys,  took  the  place  of  the  parish  school.  This  school, 
which  was  organized  by,  and  has  always  been  under  the  con- 
trol of,  the  rector  of  Trinity  Church,  will  in  a  short  time  close 
its  nineteenth  year  of  successful  work.  The  parish  school  in 
the  beginning,  and  the  boarding-school  in  after  years,  have 


334  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

been  so  intimately  associated  with  the  history  of  the  parish, 
and  have  formed  so  considerable  a  part  of  it,  that  they  must 
of  necessity  be  noticed  in  connection  with  it. 

During  the  past  year  the  chapel  has  been  enlarged  and 
improved  at  a  cost  of  $i, 600.  It  is  proposed  to  expend  about 
$1,000  in  further  improvements.  These  will  make  it  a  beauti- 
ful chapel,  well  fitted  in  every  particular  for  the  needs  of  both 
school  and  congregation. 

CHURCH  OF  THE  HOLY  COMFORTER,  SOUTH- 

FIELD.* 

This  parish  was  received  into  union  with  the  Convention 
in  1866.  No  report  was  made  to  the  Convention  in  1885. 
The  latest  available  report  was  made  in  1883,  when  the  serv- 
ices were  in  charge  of  Mr.  Charles  Temple,  a  lay  reader. 
The  number  of  communicants  was  57- 

CHURCH    OF   THE    HOLY   COMFORTER,   POUGH- 

KEEPSIE. 

This  parish  was  organized  under  a  board  of  seven  trustees 
May  10,  i860,  and  a  gift  of  land  125  feet  square  was  con- 
veyed to  its  corporation  for  a  free  church  by  Thomas  L. 
Davies  and  William  A.  Davies,  the  deed  bearing  date  May 
20,  1859,  anc*  reserving  to  William  A.  Davies  the  right  of 
erecting  a  church  building  thereon.  The  plans  for  such  a 
building  were  prepared  by  Richard  Upjohn  &  Co.,  and  the 
corner-stone  was  laid  by  Bishop  Horatio  Potter  July  14, 
1859.  The  church,  which  is  a  memorial  of  Sarah  Davies, 
wife  of  William  A.  Davies,  was  completed  and  consecrated 
October  25,  i860. 

Its  first  rector  was  Rev.  John  Scarborough,  now  Bishop 
of  New  Jersey.  He  was  elected  March  3,  i860,  and  after  a 
service  of  seven  years  resigned  August  17,  1867.  The  Rev. 
Robert  Fulton  Crary  succeeded  and  is  present  incumbent.  A 
rectory  was  purchased  by  William  A.  Davies  and  presented 
to  the  trustees  February  12,  1866.  The  donor  defrayed 
the  expense  of  an  addition  in  1867.  In  1870  a  large  addition 
was  made  to  the  church  to  be  used  for  parish  work,  the  ex- 


PARISH    HISTORIES.  335 

pense  of  which,  some  $9,000,  was  provided  by  William  A. 
Davies. 

Since  the  organization  there  have  been  1,280  baptisms,  663 
have  been  confirmed,  795  communicants  have  been  connected 
with  the  parish  and  the  present  number  is  319.  The  first 
trustees  were  Rev.  Samuel  Buel,  D.D.,  Thomas  L.  Davies, 
William  A.  Davies,  Robert  E.  Coxe,  John  W.  Van  Wagenen, 
George  Cornwell,  and  Benjamin  R.  Tenney.  The  Rev.  Dr. 
Buel  resigned  soon  after  the  election  of  a  rector  and  the  Rev. 
John  Scarborough  was  elected  to  fill  his  vacancy.  The 
members  of  the  present  board  are  William  A.  Davies,  presi- 
dent;  Rev.  Robert  Fulton  Crary,  rector  and  secretary; 
Thomas  Davies,  treasurer  ;  Robert  Sanford,  Samuel  K.  Rup- 
ley,  George  A.  Bech,  and  Frederic  Atkins. 

In  1880  an  additional  piece  of  land,  25  x  125  feet,  was  pre- 
sented to  the  trustees  by  the  founder  of  the  parish,  and  on  the 
twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  church,  October  25,  1885,  tne 
plot  of  ground  adjoining  the  church  property,  100  x  125  feet, 
was  also  deeded  to  the  trustees  by  the  same  generous  friend 
of  the  parish.  This  gives  the  church  the  whole  face  of  the 
block  fronting  on  Davies*  Place,  250  feet  in  length,  with  a 
uniform  depth  of  125  feet  and  bounded  on  three  sides  by 
streets. 

The  parish  has  the  nucleus  of  an  endowment  fund  com- 
menced by  small  thank  offerings  and  $3,500  from  the  will  of 
Matthew  Vassar,  Jr.,  the  interest  from  which  supplies  the 
Sunday  school,  now  numbering  300,  with  library  books.  The 
church  is  massively  built  of  blue-gray  stone  and  brown  stone 
trimmings  in  the  Gothic  style  ;  there  is  a  stone  spire  100  feet 
high,  surmounted  by  a  stone  cross,  and  the  seating  capacity  is 
nearly  300. 

CHRIST  CHURCH,  WARWICK* 

This  parish  was  admitted  into  union  with  the  Convention 
in  1866.  In  1868  Rev.  Nicholas  F.  Ludlum  was  rector,  and 
reported  27  communicants,  with  a  church  built  and  free  from 
debt.  He  resigned  in  that  year  after  a  four  years'  service. 
There  are  no  recent  reports  to  be  had. 


336  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH,  CLARKSTOWN.* 

This  parish  was  received  into  union  with  the  Convention 
in  1867.  The  clergyman  in  charge  in  1885  was  Rev.  Thomas 
Stephens,  and  the  wardens  were  Franklin  R.  Barnes  and 
James  Cropsey ;  the  number  of  communicants  reported  was 

59- 

ST.  AMBROSE'S  CHURCH,  NEW  YORK.* 

This  parish,  formerly  St.  Thomas'  Free  Chapel,  was  organ- 
ized and  admitted  into  union  with  the  Convention  under  the 
ministry  of  Rev.  Frederick  Sill  in  1867.  No  report  has  been 
received  by  the  committee.  In  the  Journal  of  1867  there  are 
251  communicants  recorded.  In  1875,  on  the  death  of  Mr. 
Sill,  Rev.  Howard  T.  Widdemar  became  rector  ;  in  1876,  Rev. 
Zina  Doty  is  recorded  as  rector;  in  1877,  Rev.  D.  Griffin 
Gunn  ;  no  report  in  1880,  and  in  1881  Rev.  J.  Bloomfield 
Wetherell  is  reported  rector  and  is  present  incumbent,  assisted 
by  Rev.  Howard  McDougall.  In  the  Journal  of  1885,  200 
families  are  reported  and  127  communicants. 

ST.  JOHN'S,  MONTICELLO. 

This  parish  was  organized  November  11,  18 16.  The  first 
church  was  built  in  1834  and  consecrated  the  following  year. 
The  corner-stone  of  a  new  church  was  laid  June  24,  1880,  it 
was  built  in  1882,  and  consecrated  August  28,  1883.  The 
rectors  have  been  : 

Rev.  Edward  K.  Fowler,  1 826-1 869  ;  Rev.  George  Dent 
Silliman,  1870-1873;  Rev.  Charles  Forbes  Canedy,  1873- 
1876;  Rev.  Gustav  Edmond  Purucker,  1876-1878;  Rev. 
George  H.  Anderson,  1880,  until  his  death,  March  22,  1882  ; 
Rev.  John  M.  Windsor,  1882-1885,  and  since  February  1, 
1886,  Rev.  S.  H.  S.  Gallaudet,  present  incumbent. 

St.  Mary's  Chapel,  Thompsonville,  was  erected  1871-72, 
during  the  rectorship  of  Rev.  George  D.  Silliman.  During 
the  rectorship  of  Rev.  Mr.  Canedy,  St.  James'  Chapel  was 
built  at  Callicoon  Depot,  during  1873-74,  and  afterwards 
organized  as  the  parish  of  St.  James. 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  337 

Since  the  organization  of  St.  John's,  915  have  received 
baptism,  and  266  have  been  confirmed.  In  1870  there  were 
134  communicants  ;  166  in  1880,  and  the  present  number  is 
136.  Owing  to  the  destruction  of  the  parish  register  by  fire 
twelve  years  ago,  it  is  impossible  to  state  the  number  of 
communicants  prior  to  1870. 

The  wardens  in  1820  were  John  E.  Russell  and  William 
A.  Thompson;  in  1830,  and  1840,  were  Luther  Buckley  and 
William  A.  Thompson;  in  1850,  were  Roderick  Royce  and 
Solomon  Deney;  in  i860,  were  Roderick  Royce  and  Jona- 
than Stanton  ;    in   1870,  were   Israel  P.  Tremain  and  James 

E.  Quinlan;  in  1880,  were  Israel  P.  Tremain  and  Samuel  G. 
Thompson  ;  and  at  present,  John  Waller  and  William  H. 
Cady. 

At  the  organization  of  the  parish  the  Rev.  James  Thomp- 
son held  services  for  two  or  three  Sundays.  The  Rev.  John 
Brown,  of  Newburgh,  visited  the  parish  afterwards  once  in 
three  months  until  1826.  The  first  church  was  built  during 
the  first  rectorship  at  a  cost  of  about  $3,000,  $1,500  of  which 
was  given  by  Trinity  Parish,  New  York  City. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  Mr.  Fowler's  rectorship  continued 
forty-two  years.  A  new  site  was  purchased  for  the  new  stone 
church,  at  a  cost  of  $1,600,  with  ample  room  for  a  rectory 
when  the  parish  is  able  to  provide  it. 

CHURCH  OF  THE  REFORMATION,  NEW  YORK. 

This  parish  was  organized  October  29,  1867.  The  date 
of  the  erection  of  the  first  church  is  not  known.  The  present 
church  was  built  in  1886,  and  occupies  the  old  site  of  the 
Church  of  the  Epiphany,  in  Stanton  Street.  The  rectors 
have  been  :  Rev.  Abbot  Brown,  1 867-1 871  ;  Rev.  W.  T.  Tracy, 
1872-1874;  Rev.  J.  W.  Bonham,  May  to  August,  1875  ;  Rev. 
J.  R.  Duganne,  1875-1877;  Rev.  A.  Buchanan,  May  to  Octo- 
ber, 1878;  Rev.  H.  Williams,  December  to  April,  1881  ;  from 
1881  to  1884,  no  clergyman,  and  since  May,  1884,  the  Rev.  E. 

F.  Miles,  M.D.,  in  charge. 

The  Church  of  the  Reformation  was  incorporated  in  1867, 
and  occupied  the  old  Dutch  Reformed  Church  in  East  Fiftieth 


338  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

Street  until  1875,  when  the  corporation  exchanged  properties 
with  the  incorporated  Church  of  the  Epiphany,  at  130  Stan- 
ton Street.  Services  were  conducted  in  the  church  by  various 
clergymen,  none  remaining  any  length  of  time,  until  1881, 
when  Mr.  B.  C.  Wetmore,  a  layman  and  warden  of  the  church, 
conducted  the  services  as  lay  reader  until  1883.  In  the 
summer  of  that  year,  one  of  the  assistant  clergymen  of  St. 
George's  was  detailed  for  duty  to  the  Church  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. In  May,  1884,  the  present  incumbent,  Rev.  E.  F. 
Miles,  M.D.,  was  placed  in  charge. 

The  property  had  been  rented  to  a  board  of  trustees,  con- 
ditionally, that  within  three  years  $50,000  should  be  raised  for 
the  building  of  a  new  church ;  $20,000  of  this  sum  having 
been  for  some  time  pledged.  The  condition  of  the  parish  in 
1884  was  not  encouraging.  The  old  church  had  been  con- 
demned by  the  Building  Department,  and  the  partial  use  of 
the  German  Reformed  Church  in  Norfolk  Street  was  ob- 
tained at  a  large  rental.  The  congregation  had  become  scat- 
tered by  death,  removals,  and  other  causes.  The  Sunday- 
school  has  grown  from  260  in  1884  to  an  attendance  of  nearly 
700.  The  adult  congregation  has  steadily  increased,  and 
reaches  an  average  of  nearly  300.  The  communicants  have 
increased  from  32  in  1884  to  171  at  present,  and  a  class  for 
confirmation  numbering  about  70  await  the  laying  on  of  hands 
after  Easter.  Among  the  organized  activities  of  the  parish 
are  a  Girls'  Friendly  Society,  numbering  160,  a  Young  Men's 
Friendly  Society,  numbering  67 ;  and  classes  for  instruction 
are  provided  for  them  in  free-hand  drawing,  writing,  model- 
ing in  clay,  and  wood-carving,  a  Sewing  School,  with  an  at- 
tendance of  175,  a  Literary  Society,  with  a  membership  of  80, 
meeting  monthly,  and  a  branch  of  the  Church  Temperance 
Society,  with  75  members,  and  a  kindergarten  for  little 
children. 

It  was  expected  that  the  first  services  in  the  new  church 
would  be  held  on  Easter  Day.  This  building  is  of  red  brick 
and  stone  trimmings,  and  occupies  the  entire  two  lots  on 
which  the  old  Church  of  the  Epiphany  stood,  and  contains: 
church,  with  seating  capacity  for  500,  vestry  and  choir-room, 


PARISH    HISTORIES.  339 

etc.,  Sunday-school  rooms,  with  capacity  for  900,  Girls' 
Friendly  Society  parlors,  rector's  room,  janitor's  apartments, 
gymnasium,  two  bath-rooms,  etc.,  kitchen  and  dining-room 
for  kindergarten,  etc.  The  building  is  heated  with  hot  air 
from  five  furnaces.  The  entire  cost  of  the  building,  furniture, 
etc.,  is  estimated  at  $62,000.  The  current  expenses,  including 
the  clergyman's  salary,  are  $5,000  per  annum.  The  sick  of 
the  parish  are  attended  at  their  own  homes,  and  when  unable 
to  pay  for  them,  medicine  and  medical  comforts  are  provided. 
The  work,  in  every  feature,  gives  evidence  of  steady  and 
sure  growth,  and  despite  the  difficulties  and  inconveniences 
which  have  attended  the  work,  for  want  of  proper  accommo- 
dation, the  incumbent  is  deeply  sensible  of  the  blessing  with 
which  it  has  pleased  God  to  visit  His  work,  in  this  crowded 
part  of  our  great  city. 

SANTIAGO,  NEW  YORK.* 

This  parish,  organized  for  ministrations  among  the 
Spanish-speaking  population,  was  admitted  into  union  with 
the  Convention  in  1867.  It  has  carried  on  a  mission  work 
in  New  York  and  Brooklyn,  holding  its  special  Sunday  serv- 
ices in  the  Church  of  the  Annunciation.  In  1883  the  rector 
in  charge,  Rev.  Mr.  De  Palma,  reported  50  families,  300  indi- 
viduals, and  42  communicants.  There  is  no  Jour?ial  report  in 
1885,  and  there  are  no  additional  statistics. 

ST.  MARK'S  CHURCH,  CARTHAGE  LANDING. 

This  parish  was  organized  in  January,  1865.  The  church 
was  consecrated  June  3,  1868,  by  Bishop  H.  Potter.  The 
first  rector  was  the  Rev.  F.  W.  Shelton,  D.D.,  from  August, 
1867,  to  Easter,  1880.  He  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  S.  M. 
Akerly  from  Easter,  1880,  until  October,  1881,  when  the 
parish  became  a  missionary  station,  and  was  served  from 
Zion's  Church,  Wappinger's  Falls,  until  April,  1882.  After- 
wards services  were  interrupted  until  November,  1884,  when  the 
Rev.  T.  H.  Converse,  principal  of  a  boys'  school  at  New  Ham- 
burgh, N.  Y.,  took  charge  of  the  parish  under  the  missionary 
board   of  the  diocese.     He  still  continues  to  officiate  regu- 


34-0  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

larly  in  the  church.  There  is  no  rectory.  Since  organiza- 
tion there  have  been  96  baptisms,  and  37  have  received  con- 
firmation. The  present  number  of  communicants  is  20. 
The  organization  and  maintenance  of  St.  Mark's  has  been 
largely  due  to  the  zeal  and  interest  of  the  well-known  Ver- 
planck  family,  residing  near  Fishkill-on-Hudson.  But  to 
quote  from  the  notes  of  Dr.  Shelton,  the  first  rector:  "In  a 
place  of  few  inhabitants,  with  little  business  or  enterprise  of 
any  kind,  it  was  unfortunate  that  almost  immediately  after 
ground  had  been  selected  for  a  church  and  the  foundations 
had  been  laid,  three  important  families  were  lost  to  the  parish 
by  death  or  removal." 

ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH,  GREENWOOD.* 

This  parish  was  received  into  union  with  the  Convention 
in  1868.  A  pretty  stone  church  was  built  under  the  archi- 
tectural as  well  as  missionary  direction  of  Rev.  Charles  Bab- 
cock,  who  in  1870  reported  45  families  and  lOO  individuals  in 
his  charge,  with  a  flourishing  day  school  of  60  scholars. 
There  were  72  communicants.  The  latest  accessible  Con- 
vention report  was  made  in  1883.  The  parish  was  then,  as 
it  is  now,  without  a  rector.  The  number  of  communicants 
was  57. 

ST.  PAUL'S  CHURCH,  SPRING  VALLEY, 

Was  organized  August  II,  1868,  and  the  church  was  built 
and  opened  August  5,  1872.  The  Rev.  Romaine  S.  Mans- 
field was  rector  from  the  beginning,  and  continued  until 
July,  1878.  He  was  immediately  succeeded  by  Rev.  J. 
Tragitt,  who  served  until  April,  1880.  The  parish  remained 
vacant  until  February,  1881,  when  the  bishop  placed  it  in 
charge  of  Rev.  R.  S.  Mansfield,  rector  of  Christ  Church, 
Ramapo,  who  held  services  Sunday  afternoons  until  October, 
1883,  when  Rev.  Thomas  Stephens,  the  present  incumbent, 
took  charge.  There  have  been  79  baptisms  recorded,  and  52 
have  received  confirmation.  The  present  number  of  communi- 
cants is  35.  As  the  records  have  been  lost  it  is  impossible  to 
give  the  succession  of  wardens ;  those  now  in  the  office  are 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  341 

Messrs.  Parsons  and  Warner.  The  Holy  Communion  was 
first  celebrated  in  this  parish  by  the  Rev.  George  F.  Seymour, 
now  Bishop  of  Springfield,  and  the  first  sermon  in  the  new 
church,  December  18,  1873,  was  preached  by  the  assistant 
Bishop  of  the  diocese. 

ALL  SAINTS'  (BRIAR  CLIFF),  SING  SING* 

This  parish  was  received  into  union  with  Convention  in 
1869.  From  the  report  to  the  Convention  in  1885,  it  appears 
that  Rev.  Addison  Sherman  was  rector,  and  Charles  C.  Clarke 
and  Charles  F.  Ogilby  wardens.  The  number  of  communi- 
cants was  41. 

TRINITY  CHURCH,  SING  SING* 

This  parish  was  received  into  union  with  Convention  in 
1869.  From  the  Convention  Journal  of  1885,  it  appears  that 
Rev.  Geo.  W.  Ferguson  was  the  rector,  and  Benjamin  Moore 
and  George  D.  Arthur  wardens.  There  were  218  communi- 
cants.    There  are  no  other  statistics  at  hand. 

CHURCH  OF  THE  HEAVENLY  REST,  NEW  YORK* 

No  report  has  been  received  from  this  parish,  and  there 
are  no  accessible  data  beyond  the  report  in  the  Convention 
Journal  of  1885.  The  parish  was  established  by  Rev.  R.  S. 
Hovvland,  D.D.,  rector,  who  has  of  late  years  left  it  mainly 
in  charge  of  Rev.  D.  Parker  Morgan,  M.A.  It  was  received 
into  union  with  the  Convention  in  1 870.  The  church  is  built 
of  stone  after  strongly  original  designs  by  Mr.  Edward  Potter. 
The  interior  is  effectively  adorned  with  excellent  frescoes  after 
Fra  Angelica,  and  Ary  Scheffer's  "  Christus  Consolator  "  as 
an  altar  piece.  There  is  a  full  congregation  and  the  parish 
abounds  with  societies  and  agencies  for  charities  and  instruction. 
More  than  1,000  individuals  are  within  its  cure.  The  present 
number  of  communicants  is  588.  The  wardens  are  E.  L. 
Terry  and  F.  Humphreys,  M.D. 


342  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

CHURCH    OF    THE   ASCENSION,    WEST    NEW 
BRIGHTON. 

This  parish  was  organized  May  24,  1869,  and  the  church 
edifice  built  in  1870.  The  rectors  have  been:  Rev.  Theodore 
Irving,  LL.D.,  1867-1872;  Rev.  James  S.  Bush,  1872-1884, 
and  Rev.  Pascal  Harrower,  from  1884,  present  incumbent.  In 
January  of  this  year,  the  lot  adjoining  the  church  was  pur- 
chased, and  a  rectory  is  to  be  built  during  the  summer.  The 
Sunday  school  and  parish  house  was  erected  by  St.  Andrew's 
Parish,  of  Richmond,  Rev.  David  Moore,  rector.  Since  the 
foundation  of  the  Parish  of  the  Ascension,  this  building  has 
been  remodeled  for  its  present  use.  Since  organization  540 
baptisms  are  recorded,  and  245  have  received  confirmation. 
The  present  number  of  communicants  is  291.  The  wardens 
named  are:  Gabriel  Martine  and  Sidney  D.  Roberts,  1869; 
Erastus  Brooks  and  Sidney  D.  Roberts,  1879,  anc*  Erastus 
Brooks  and  DeWitt  Stafford,  1885.  The  earlier  history  of 
the  church  in  this  village  forms  part  of  the  parish  history 
of  St.  Andrew's,  Richmond.  Services  were  at  that  time  held 
regularly  in  the  afternoon.  The  church  was  then  known  as 
Trinity  Chapel  of  St.  Andrew's  Parish. 

GRACE    PARISH,    STONY   POINT. 

By  appointment  of  Bishop  Potter,  the  Rev.  Ebenezer 
Gay,  Jr.,  commenced  services  in  the  town  of  Stony  Point 
August  1,  1869.  Sunday-schools  were  established  at  two 
points,  services  maintained,  several  persons  were  baptized, 
and  the  Holy  Communion  celebrated.  In  the  spring  of 
1 87 1  the  House  of  the  Good  Shepherd  was  removed  from 
Haverstraw  to  its  present  location  at  Tomkins'  Cove  in  the 
town  of  Stony  Point,  and  in  its  chapel  regular  and  full  serv- 
ices have  been  regularly  maintained.  The  corner-stone  for 
a  church  building  was  laid  June  13,  1871,  by  the  Rev.  J.  B. 
Gibson,  S.T.D.  The  building  will  be  at  once  a  chapel  for 
the  House  of  the  Good  Shepherd  and  a  mission  church  for 
the  neighborhood.  At  this  date,  April,  1886,  the  foundation 
and  basement  walls  are  built  and  the  stone  collected  for  the 


PARISH    HISTORIES.  343 

erection  of  the  walls.  No  debt  will  be  incurred,  but  the  work 
will  be  pursued  as  funds  are  provided.  November  9,  188 1,  the 
corner-stone  for  a  stone  church  building  was  laid  at  Caldwell's 
Landing  by  the  Rev.  R.  S.  Mansfield,  and  on  March  29,  1883, 
the  building  was  consecrated  under  the  name  of  the  House 
of  Prayer,  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  J.  A.  Paddock,  D.D.,  acting  for 
the  Bishop  of  New  York.  In  April,  1884,  a  parish  was  duly 
formed  and  incorporated  under  the  title  of  Grace  Church, 
Stony  Point,  with  the  following  officers :  The  Rev.  Ebenezer 
Gay,  Jr.,  rector;  Jacob  De  Ronde  and  Charles  H.  Casseles, 
wardens  ;  William  Tomlins,  Joseph  Casseles,  William  Spring- 
stead,  and  George  King,  vestrymen.  Number  of  baptisms, 
660;  of  persons  confirmed,  90;  number  of  communicants  in 
1869,  3  ;  in  1875,  15  ;  in  1885,  69.  All  the  officers  are  commu- 
nicants, and  with  one  exception  have  become  such  under  the 
ministrations  of  the  present  pastor. 

ST.  LUKE'S  CHURCH,  MATTEAWAN.* 

There  appears  to  be  an  error  in  the  Diocesan  Journal  of 
1885,  where  this  parish  is  recorded  as  having  been  admitted 
into  Conventional  union  in  1833.  The  first  mention  found  of 
the  parish  is  in  the  Journal  for  1869,  Rev.  Henry  E.  Duncan, 
rector,  and  it  does  not  appear  in  the  list  of  the  churches  of 
the  diocese  in  that  year.  It  is  printed  in  the  list  of  diocesan 
churches  for  the  first  time  in  1871,  and  in  that  record  it  is  set 
down  as  "admitted"  in  1833.  In  the  report  for  1869  (the. 
earliest  found)  there  are  recorded  112  families  and  150  com- 
municants. In  1885  there  were  240  families,  and,  presumably, 
400  communicants.  The  wardens  were  Winthrop  Sargent 
and  William  P.  Bleecker.  The  rectors,  as  far  as  can  be 
ascertained,  were:  Rev.  Henry  E.  Duncan,  1869;  in  1875,  Rev. 
Edward  T.  Bartlett,  and  in  1885,  Rev.  Henry  Bedinger. 
There  are  no  additional  data  available. 

HOLY   TRINITY   CHURCH,  HARLEM. 

This  parish  was  organized  June  23,  1868.  The  first  church 
was  built  and  opened  for  Divine  service  May  5,  1870.  The 
present  edifice  was  completed  and  opened  December  5,  1880. 


344  CENTENNIAL  CHURCH    HISTORY. 

The  first  rector  was  Rev.  William  Neilson  McVickar,  from 
1868  to  1875,  and  his  successor,  the  present  rector,  Rev.  Ran- 
dolph Harrison  McKim,  D.D.,  took  charge  of  the  parish 
November  21,  1875.  Holy  Trinity  Chapel,  No.  307  East 
One  Hundred  and  Twelfth  Street,  and  Holy  Trinity  Mission 
House  and  Day  Nursery,  erected  on  the  same  lot,  were 
built  under  the  ministry  of  the  present  incumbent  in  1884. 
Since  organization  576  have  received  baptism,  and  502  have 
received  confirmation.  In  1876  there  were  200  communi- 
cants ;  in  1880,  430,  and  the  present  number  is  about  800. 
The  wardens  in  1870  were  Benjamin  C.  Paddock  and  Fred- 
erick Tinson,  who  continued  in  office  after  1880. 

This  church  was  opened  for  its  first  service  May  5,  1870, 
on  its  present  site,  Fifth  Avenue,  corner  One  Hundred  and 
Twenty-fifth  Street.  The  rector  was  the  Rev.  Wm.  Neilson 
McVickar,  under  whose  devoted  ministrations  the  congre- 
gation rapidly  increased.  The  first  vestry  (June  23,  1868) 
consisted  of  Messrs.  Benjamin  C.  Paddock  and  Frederic 
Tinson,  wardens ;  and  Messrs.  George  Richmond,  Chas.  F. 
Alvord,  J.  Romaine  Brown,  Walter  Brady,  Manton  E.  Town- 
send,  George  W.  Buckhout,  Jacob  H.  Valentine,  and  Roswell 
G.  Ralston,  vestrymen  ;  Mr.  M.  E.  Townsend  being  clerk, 
and  Mr.  C.  F.  Alvord,  treasurer. 

Mr.  McVickar  resigned  early  in  the  summer  of  1875,  leav- 
ing behind  him  a  record  fragrant  with  his  own  large-hearted 
lovingkindness,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  present  rector, 
who  assumed  charge  November  21,  1875. 

The  church  was  destroyed  by  fire  on  the  morning  of  Ash 
Wednesday,  February  II,  1880,  but  the  services  were  sus- 
tained without  interruption  in  a  hall  on  Fourth  Avenue, 
corner  of  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-ninth  Street,  until  De- 
cember 5,  1880,  when  the  new  church  (which,  except  the 
chancel  and  the  gallery,  is  for  the  most  part  an  exact  repro- 
duction of  the  old),  was  ready  for  occupancy.  The  steadfast- 
ness of  the  congregation  during  this  trying  ordeal  is  worthy 
of  all  praise. 

Among  interesting  incidents  in  the  life  of  the  parish 
should  be  mentioned  the   formation,  in  November,  1868,  of 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  345 

the  Ladies'  Benevolent  Society,  and  in  December,  1873, 
of  the  Pastoral  Aid  Society,  and  of  a  branch  of  the  Church 
Temperance  Society  in  188 1.  Other  parochial  activities  are 
in  successful  operation. 

ST.    PAUL'S    MISSION. 

This  is  not  a  parish  organization.  The  church  was  built 
in  1870,  and  the  mission  has  been  under  charge  of  Rev.  John 
Drisler.  There  have  been  6  baptisms  and  23  have  been  con- 
firmed. The  number  of  communicants  at  the  beginning  was 
15,  the  present  number  is  20. 

ST.  MARY'S  CHURCH,  YORKTOWN.* 

This  parish  was  admitted  into  union  with  the  Convention 
in  1870,  and  represented  by  a  lay  delegation  in  1871.  The 
first  rector  was  Rev.  Lewis  F.  Morris,  who  remained  until 
1875.  After  a  vacancy  of  six  years,  Rev.  Louis  Cloak  was 
rector,  1881-1882.  Since  1883  there  has  been  no  rector. 
There  are  no  statistics  concerning  the  condition  of  the 
church  since  1872,  at  which  time  there  were  54  individuals 
and  23  communicants  in  the  charge. 

TRINITY  CHURCH,  MORRISANIA.* 

This  parish  was  admitted  into  union  with  the  Convention 
in  1870.  The  Rev.  A.  S.  Hull  appears  in  the  Convention 
Journal  as  rector  since  1871.  There  are  no  additional  sta- 
tistics. 

CHURCH    OF   ST.  IGNATIUS,  NEW  YORK. 

This  parish  was  organized  December  11,  1871,  and  the 
edifice  was  bought  from  the  Holland  Reformed  Church.  The 
rectors  have  been:  Rev.  Ferdinand  Cartwright  Ewer,  S.T.D., 
elected  December  13,  1871,  and  died  October  10,  1883;  Rev. 
Arthur  Ritchie,  since  May  1,  1884,  rector,  and  present  in- 
cumbent. There  are  417  baptisms  recorded,  and  274  have 
received  confirmation.  The  present  number  of  communicants 
is  161.  The  wardens  in  1871  were:  Philip  R.  Wilkins  and 
John  R.  Morewood;   in  1880,  the  same,  and   in   1883  to  the 


346  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

present,  John  R.  Morewood  and  John  W.  Emerson.  This 
parish  is  an  off-shoot  from  Christ  Church.  It  suffered  great 
loss  from  the  death  of  its  first  rector,  but  now,  happily,  seems 
to  be  recovering,  and  taking  on  new  vigor  and  growth. 

CHURCH  OF  ST.  MARY  THE  VIRGIN,  NEW  YORK. 

This  parish  was  organized  in  1868,  and  the  church  edifice 
was  built  in  1 868-1 870.  The  first,  and  present,  rector  is  Rev. 
Thomas  McKee  Brown,  who  was  elected  June  11,  1869.  The 
parish  owns  a  rectory  adjoining  the  church.  There  is  also  a 
three-storied  brick  building,  adjoining  the  chancel,  containing 
a  chapel  and  altar,  clergy  rooms,  choir  rooms  and  organ,  and 
guild  room.  It  was  built  in  1885.  Since  organization  there 
have  been  592  baptisms,  and  423  have  received  confirmation. 
In  1869  there  were  30  communicants;  in  1878,  273  ;  in  1885, 
425,  which  is  the  present  number.  The  parish  is  vested  in  a 
body  of  trustees,  and  there  are  neither  wardens  nor  vestry- 
men. William  Scott  is  president  of  the  board,  and  there  has 
been  no  change  since  1869. 

The  parish  was  begun  by  building  the  church,  after  which 
the  congregation  was  gathered  in,  its  growth  being  steady. 
Daily  and  more  frequent  services  have  been  maintained,  of 
which  there  has  been  at  least  one  celebration  of  the  Holy 
Communion  every  day  during  these  fifteen  years.  The  chief 
service  on  Sunday  is  the  high  celebration  of  the  Holy  Com- 
munion, preceded  by  Matins  and  Litany  at  an  earlier  hour 
and  followed  by  Choral  Vespers  in  the  afternoon. 

The  Sunday-school  services  during  the  autumn,  winter, 
and  spring  months  are,  for  the  morning  session,  a  Choral 
Celebration  and  address,  and  for  the  afternoon  session, 
Lessons  and  Catechizing.  The  services  and  parish  works  are 
free,  and  supported  entirely  by  voluntary  contributions. 
There  are  no  endowments.  Sisters  of  the  Nativity,  from  the 
Sisterhood  of  the  Nativity,  Church  of  the  Advent,  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  work  in  the  schools,  guilds,  and  among  the 
sick  and  poor. 

Guilds  and  societies  exist  for  altar  boys,  choirs,  children, 
girls,  married  women,  men,  communicants,  burial  purposes, 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  347 

etc.  At  present  there  are  three  clergymen  connected  with 
the  parish,  Rev.  Thomas  McKee  Brown,  Rev.  Henry  Darby, 
and  Rev.  James  Oswald  Davis. 

CHURCH  OF  THE  DIVINE  LOVE,  MONTROSE, 

Was  organized  in  1869,  and  a  church  built  during  the 
same  year.  In  1880  a  new  church  was  provided.  Rev. 
Gouverneur  Cruger  has  been  rector  since  the  organization. 
There  have  been  411  baptisms  recorded,  and  100  have  re- 
ceived confirmation.  In  1870  there  were  12  communicants; 
in  1880,  60,  and  the  present  number  is  81.  In  1879,  mission 
services  were  begun  at  the  village  of  Verplanck,  and  the  rector 
began  the  construction  of  a  small  chapel.  It  was  opened  for 
Divine  service,  under  the  name  of  St.  Barnabas,  on  Easter 
Day,  1880,  and  since  has  served  a  good  purpose  for  Sunday- 
evening  and  occasional  week-day  services.  The  building  was 
freed  from  debt  during  the  following  summer,  and  duly  con- 
secrated by  Bishop  Seymour,  of  the  Diocese  of  Springfield, 
Illinois.  The  entire  cost  of  this  chapel,  a  building  of  good 
parts,  substantially  constructed  of  brick,  Gothic  in  design, 
roofed  with  slate,  a  belfry  and  a  400  pounds'  bell,  completely 
furnished,  carpeted,  and  an  organ,  did  not  exceed  $1,700. 
This  chapel  has  proved  of  great  benefit,  providing  services 
for  those  who  did  not  attend  the  parish  church. 

GRACE   CHURCH,  STONY  POINT. 

This  parish  was  incorporated  in  April,  1884.  The  first 
church  was  built  in  1872.  In  1882  the  House  of  Prayer  was 
built  at  Caldwell's  and  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Child  Jesus 
is  now  being  built.  This  is  a  wide  mission  field,  and 
Rev.  Ebenezer  Gay,  Jr.,  has  been  in  charge  since  August, 
1869.  A  rectory  was  built  in  1882.  Since  the  organization 
of  the  work  660  baptisms  are  recorded  and  90  have  received 
confirmation.  In  1869  there  were  3  communicants  ;  in  1875, 
15,  and  at  present  there  are  69.  The  acting  wardens  are  Jacob 
De  Ronde  and  Charles  H.  Casseles.  This  has  been  strictly 
a  mission  work  from  the  first  and  very  largely  among  a  poor 
people.     There  is  not  an  individual  of  wealth  in  the  parish. 


348  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

CHURCH    OF  ST.  JOHN    BAPTIST,  KENT   CLIFFS, 

Was  organized  as  a  mission  June  22,  1873,  and  as  a  parish 
March  8,  1878.  A  church  was  built  in  1882,  and  conse- 
crated by  Bishop  Seymour,  of  the  Diocese  of  Springfield,  Illi- 
nois, August  8th  of  the  same  year.  On  the  church  lot  there 
is  a  building  used  as  a  store,  with  living  rooms  overhead  which 
might  be  utilized  as  a  rectory  ;  also  a  carriage  house  and 
sheds.  The  missionaries  have  been  :  Rev.  William  Moore, 
1873-1875;  Rev.  Wilberforce  Wells,  1875-1876;  Rev.  Mat- 
thew A.  Dailey,  M.D.,  1 877-1 885  ;  and  Rev.  Uriah  T.  Tracy 
from  1885  to  date.  The  rector  since  parochial  organization 
has  been  the  present  incumbent,  Dr.  Bailey.  Total  number 
of  baptisms  recorded  is  95,  and  30  have  received  confirmation. 
In  1873  there  were  4  communicants  ;  the  present  number  is 
67.  The  wardens  have  been  Joseph  H.  Bailey,  Surgeon 
U.S.A.,  from  1878  until  his  decease  in  April,  1883  ;  Andrew 
J.Bennett  from  1878,  and  Smith  Warden  Parks  from  1883, 
both  to  date.  Kent  Cliffs,  formerly  Boyd's  Corners,  is  a  ham- 
let 60  miles  from  New  York  City,  in  the  town  of  Kent,  in  the 
center  of  Putnam  County,  lying  on  the  west  side  of  Croton 
Storage  Reservoir. 

CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  EVANGELIST,  BARRY- 
TOWN-ON-HUDSON. 

This  parish  was  organized  October  4,  1874,  and  the 
church  was  built  during  the  summer  of  1874  and  consecrated 
in  the  following  October.  Rev.  R.  B.  Fairbairn,  D.D.,  war- 
den of  St.  Stephen's  College,  was  made  and  continues  rector. 
Rev.  George  P.  Hopson  officiated  from  October  4,  1874, 
to  October,  1884,  resigning  about  January  1st  following. 
Rev.  Francis  E.  Shober  since  1884  officiated  as  deacon  and 
remains  in  charge.  A  building  was  erected  in  the  church- 
yard for  Sunday-school  and  parish  purposes  in  1875-76, 
during  Mr.  Hopson's  ministry,  and  was  opened  March  4, 
1876.  Since  organization  104  baptisms  are  recorded  and  60 
have  received  confirmation.  In  1874  there  were  33  commu- 
nicants ;  in    1884,  35,  and  in  1886,  59.     The  trustees  in  1874 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  349 

were  Rev.  R.  B.  Fairbairn,  D.D.,  president ;  Charles  E.  Sands, 
secretary;  Samuel  Breek,  treasurer  (deceased);  Rev.  H.  C. 
Potter,  D.D.,  Mrs.  John  L.  Aspinwall,  William  H.  Aspinwall 
(deceased),  and  Meredith  Rowland.  In  1884  the  trustees  were 
Rev.  R.  B.  Fairbairn,  D.D.,  president  ;  Charles  E.  Sands,  sec- 
retary ;  L.  Lloyd  Breek,  treasurer ;  Rt.  Rev.  Henry  C.  Potter, 
D.D.,  Mrs.  John  L.  Aspinwall,  Mrs.  William  H.  Aspinwall 
and  Meredith  Howland.  This  church  is  a  memorial  to  the 
late  John  L.  Aspinwall,  built  and  endowed  by  his  widow, 
Jane  M.  Aspinwall.  This  endowment  was  increased  by  the 
addition  of  $5,000  in  a  legacy  from  the  late  William  H. 
Aspinwall  of  New  York.  There  are  guilds  and  societies  in 
the  parish  for  the  edification  and  culture  of  the  people,  old 
and  young.  A  large  tract  of  land  has  this  year  been  given 
to  the  parish  by  the  heirs  of  Mr.  Aspinwall.  It  immediately 
joins  the  church  grounds  and  is  the  site  of  a  proposed  ceme- 
tery. 

CHURCH  OF  THE  HOLY  CROSS,  NEW  YORK. 

This  church  was  begun  in  1875  as  an  unorganized  mis- 
sion and  incorporated  under  the  Free  Church  Act  in  Septem- 
ber, 1885,  in  which  year  the  church  was  erected  in  Avenue  C 
between  Third  and  Fourth  Streets.  Until  1877  ministrations 
were  exclusively  in  the  German  language,  since  which  date 
services  have  been  sustained  both  in  English  and  German.  The 
clergy  missioners  who  have  been  employed  are  Rev.  W.  Wey, 
1875-77  ;  Rev.  G.  F.  Siegmund,  Rev.  Julius  Unger  and  Rev. 
J.  F.  Esch,  1877-80;  Rev.  B.  W.  Maturin,  S.S.J.E.,  1877- 
78,  English  side;  Rev.  H.  W.  Nancrade,  1878,  English  side; 
Rev.  Charles  P.  A.  Burnett,  1879-81,  English  side;  Rev.  R. 
S.  Dod,  1880-81,  English  side  ;  Rev.  A.  C.  Hoehnig,  1881-85, 
German  side;  and  since  1885  the  Order  of  the  Holy  Cross, 
who  sustain  ministrations  both  in  English  and  German.  The 
Sisters  of  St.  John  Baptist  engage  in  mission  and  parish 
work.  Baptisms  recorded  are  1,403  ;  confirmation  has  been 
administered  to  666,  and  the  present  number  of  communi- 
cants is  223.     The  corporation  is  a  Board  of  Trustees. 


350  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

CHURCH    OF   ST.  JOHN   BAPTIST,  GLENHAM. 

The  date  of  the  organization  of  this  free  church  is  not 
given.  The  church  edifice  was  built  in  1857,  and  the  parish 
was  admitted  into  union  with  the  Convention  of  the  diocese 
in  1876.     The  rectors  have  been  :  Rev.  John  R.  Livingston, 

until   April    n,   1878;    Rev.  William  W.   De  Hart,  in 

charge  from  October,  1877,  to  September,  1879,  an<^  Rev. 
Robert  B.  Van  Kleeck,  Jr.,  incumbent  since  1880.  A  parish 
schoolhouse  was  built  about  i860  and  enlarged  in  1876  by 
Rev.  John  R.  Livingston.  There  are  428  baptisms  recorded 
and  204  have  received  confirmation.  When  the  first  services 
were  held  there  was  one  communicant.  Afterwards  owing 
to  the  transient  character  of  the  population  the  number  has 
varied  from  50  to  75  ;  the  present  number  is  about  60.  In 
1 87 1  the  wardens  were:  James  S.  Thorne  and  Thomas  Gilbert  ; 
in  1881,  James  S.  Thorne  and  Charles  E.  Barton,  and  since 
1 88 1,  Charles  E.  Barton  and  Robert  Sloan. 

This  free  church  was  founded  by  the  late  Rev.  John  R. 
Livingston,  who  took  charge  of  Trinity  Parish,  Fishkill, 
November  5,  1854,  having  been  ordained  deacon  by  Bishop 
Wainwright.  The  first  service  was  held  on  the  fourth  Sunday 
after  Trinity,  1855,  in  an  upper  room  in  a  tenant  house.  The 
corner-stone  was  laid  by  Bishop  Horatio  Potter  and  the 
address  was  given  by  Rev.  Dr.  Brown,  rector  of  St.  George's 
Church,  Newburgh.  The  first  service  was  held  in  Advent 
season,  1857,  Rev.  George  F.  Seymour,  of  Annandale,  preach- 
ing the  sermon.  The  church  was  consecrated  by  Bishop 
Potter  June  17,  1858.  Mr.  Livingston  continued  his  faithful 
and  zealous  services  in  this  mission  parish  for  nearly  twenty 
years,  until  his  decease,  April  II,  1878,  sincerely  mourned,  as 
he  was  greatly  beloved  by  his  parishioners.  A  memorial  altar 
and  a  lecturn  given  by  the  Sunday-school  were  used  for  the 
first  time  on  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  consecration 
of  the  church.  Ministrations  have  been  regularly  maintained 
by  the  present  rector,  and  the  people  have  been  zealous  and 
faithful  under  the  discouragements  of  great  business  and 
financial  depression  which  have  fallen  upon  this  manufactur- 
ing village  during  the  past  four  years. 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  351 

CHURCH    OF  THE    HOLY   TRINITY,    HIGHLAND. 

This  parish  was  organized  in  1872;  the  corner-stone  was 
laid  the  same  year,  and  the  church  was  completed  and  con- 
secrated in  1873.  It  appears  that  the  clergy  who  have  here- 
tofore labored  in  this  parish  have  been  simply  in  charge,  and 
that  the  present  incumbent,  Rev.  Henry  Tarrant,  B.D.,  is 
actually  the  first  rector.  He  entered  upon  the  work  April  12, 
1885.  Since  organization  154  baptisms  are  recorded,  46  of 
which  were  administered  during  the  last  year  by  the  rector; 
also  71  have  received  confirmation,  17  of  which  are  in  the 
record  of  the  last  year.  The  present  number  of  communicants 
is  about  40;  of  whom  20  were  admitted  the  last  year.  The 
following  account  of  Mr.  Tarrant's  mission  labors,  and  his  suc- 
cessful attempt  to  rescue  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Cross,  Clin- 
tondale,  Ulster  County,  from  loss,  and  indeed,  perishing,  is 
condensed  from  published  reports,  and  will  have  a  permanent 
value  in  this  volume: 

Among  the  many  missionary  efforts  put  forth  by  the  Rev. 
Joseph  H.  Johnson,  a  former  rector  of  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Trinity,  Highland,  and  an  enthusiastic  and  devoted 
missioner  in  the  villages  far  and  near,  was  the  building  of  a 
church  at  Clintondale,'a  village  about  seven  miles  south-west 
of  Highland,  and  across  two  mountains.  At  the  time  of  his 
resignation,  about  seven  years  ago,  he  had  succeeded  in  put- 
ting up  the  shell  of  a  handsome  frame  building,  25  x  66  feet, 
but  unfortunately  he  had  to  leave  it  in  that  state.  None  of  his 
successors  staid  long  enough,  for  one  reason  or  another,  to  com- 
plete the  good  work  so  hopefully,  courageously,  and  unselfishly 
begun.  Last  spring,  with  the  advent  of  the  Rev.  Henry  Tar- 
rant, the  present  rector  at  Highland,  affairs  took  on  a  more 
hopeful  turn.  The  parish  at  Highland  regained  its  former 
strength  and  influence  in  the  community,  and  the  work  at 
Clintondale  was  taken  up  with  renewed  vigor.  Early  in  July 
the  Rev.  Henry  Tarrant  visited  Clintondale  for  the  first  time 
and  examined  the  church  property  in  company  with  Mr.  D. 
R.  Hasbrouck,  a  devoted  layman  of  the  place.  Mr.  Tarrant 
determined  at  once  to  finish  the  church.     This  end  has  been 


352  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

reached  through  the  generosity  of  several  parishes,  chiefly  in 
Dutchess,  Orange  and  Ulster  Counties,  and  a  few  individuals 
who  cannot  be  identified  with  any  parishes.  Not  that  these 
parishes  gave  as  parishes,  for  the  rector  of  Holy  Trinity  went 
from  door  to  door,  day  after  day,  soliciting  the  gifts  of  the 
faithful.  Money  is  not  all  the  rector  has  secured  for  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Cross;  other  gifts  have  been  forthcoming, 
as  for  instance:  St.  James',  Hyde  Park,  gave  an  organ,  a 
black  walnut  prayer  desk,  black  walnut  uprights  to  sustain 
the  altar  rail,  an  altar  service,  and  prayer  book  in  red  Turkey 
morocco;  Christ  Church,  Poughkeepsie,  an  oak  lecturn;  Holy 
Comforter,  Poughkeepsie,  white  altar  linen  ;  the  Church  of 
the  Intercession,  New  York  City,  a  white  marble  font ;  on  the 
base  of  this  is  inscribed  "  Precious  Memories."  "  This  font, 
used  in  the  old  Church  of  the  Intercession,  New  York  City, 
for  thirty  years,  is  the  gift  of  the  new  to  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Cross,  Clintondale,  New  York,  1885";  the  Church  of 
the  Holy  Trinity,  Highland,  gave  a  communion  service — this 
is  the  gift  of  a  mother  to  her  daughter — and  on  it  is  inscribed 
4<  Holy  Trinity,  Highland,  to  Holy  Cross,  Clintondale,  New 
York,  1885."  The  present  rector  would  gratefully  record  the 
names  of  the  individuals  and  parishes  who  so  generously 
assisted  the  Rev.  Mr.  Johnson,  were  the  materials  for  so 
doing  in  his  power.  On  Saturday,  November  28,  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Cross  was  consecrated  by  the  assistant  bishop 
of  the  diocese,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Henry  C.  Potter,  D.D.  The 
Church  of  the  Holy  Cross  is  the  only  Episcopal  Church 
between  Milton  on  the  east,  and  Ellenville  on  the  west 
nearly  forty  miles,  and  Walden  on  the  south,  and  Rosendale 
on  the  north  more  than  thirty  miles.  From  it,  as  a  center, 
an  energetic  missionary  can  reach  with  occasional  services 
at  least  Achart's  Corner,  Ardonia,  Modena,  Jenkintown,  New 
Paltz,  Ohioville,  Gardiner's,  Centerville,  and  other  places. 

ST.  JAMES'  CHURCH,  CALLICOON  DEPOT. 

This  church  was  organized  under  the  title  of  The  Free 
Church  of  St.  James,  under  the  Free  Church  Statute,  with  a 
body  of  seven  trustees,  May  30,  1877.     The  church  edifice, 


PARISH    HISTORIES.  353 

occupied  for  two  years  as  a  chapel,  was  built  in  1875  and  con- 
secrated June  6,  1877,  by  Bishop  H.  Potter.  The  first  rector 
was  Rev.  George  A.  Chambers,  from  January  5,  1877,  to  Oc- 
tober 1,  1880.  After  a  vacancy  of  three  years,  Rev.  Elijah 
J.  Roke  was  rector  from  January  28,  1883,  to  January  I,  1884. 
The  Rev.  F.  N.  Luson  was  incumbent  from  April  15,  1884,  to 
the  following  November.  There  have  been  40  persons  bap- 
tized, and  13  have  received  confirmation.  The  present  num- 
ber of  communicants  is  8.  The  first  service  was  held  in  the 
Methodist  Church,  at  Callicoon  Depot,  in  June,  1874,  by  Rev. 
John  Kiernan,  then  of  Deposit.  In  June,  1875,  Rev.  Charles 
F.  Canedy,  then  of  Monticello,  took  charge,  and  had  occa- 
sional services  during  the  next  two  years.  At  his  request  the 
Bishop  appointed  Oliver  Perry  Vinton  lay  reader.  Through 
the  efforts  of  Messrs.  Canedy  and  Vinton  and  the  late  Judge 
James  C.  Curtis,  of  Callicoon  Depot,  $1,200  was  raised  by  sub- 
scription, Judge  Curtis  presenting  an  acre  of  land,  and  before 
January  I,  1876,  a  handsome  church  was  completed  and  fur- 
nished, with  sittings  for  150  persons. 

CHURCH  OF  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT,  NEW  YORK, 

Was  organized  in  1878.  The  church  first  used  was  built  in 
i860  and  rebuilt  for  the  use  of  this  parish  in  1878.  The 
present  church  was  erected  in  1881.  The  only  rector  of  the 
parish  is  Rev.  Edmund  Guilbert,  M.A.,  present  incumbent. 
Since  organization,  158  baptisms  are  recorded,  and  133  have 
received  confirmation.  The  present  number  of  communicants 
is  400.  The  wardens  from  1878  to  1886  are  Orlando  F.  Dor- 
man  and  Ulysses  D.  Eddy. 

GRACE  CHURCH,  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  SIX- 
TEENTH STREET,  NEW  YORK.* 

This  parish  was  admitted  into  union  with  the  Convention 
in  1879.  -A-s  there  is  no  report  in  the  hands  of  the  committee 
the  following  particulars  are  gathered  from  the  Convention 
Journals :  in  1879  R-ev-  D.  Brainerd  Ray  is  mentioned  as  rec- 
tor. The  communicants  were  135  in  number.  During  this 
year  this  parish  has  completed  and  occupied  a  large  and 
23 


354  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

beautiful  church  edifice  on  One  Hundred  and  Sixteenth 
Street,  near  Third  Avenue.  For  more  than  ten  years  the 
work  was  carried  on  in  a  very  small,  plain,  and  badly  located 
brick  chapel,  which  was  never  designed  for  a  church.  This 
was  mortgaged  and  sold  in  1877,  and  the  proceeds  used  to 
purchase  lots  in  a  better  locality  and  to  defray  expenses  in- 
curred in  erecting  the  present  church.  The  church  is  46  x 
100,  with  a  transept  easily  seating  600.  There  is  a  large 
and  excellent  Sunday-school  room  with  provision  for  800 
scholars.  The  Sunday-school  was  occupied  in  1878.  The 
church,  which  was  begun  in  1878,  was  completed  and  occu- 
pied in  1879.  In  that  year  there  were  135  communicants. 
There  is  no  report  in  the  Journal  for  1885. 

GRACE  CHURCH,  MILLBROOK. 

This  parish  was  organized  September  6,  1864,  under  the 
title  of  Grace  Church,  Harts'  Village.  The  corner-stone  of 
the  church  was  laid  September  13,  1866,  and  consecration 
followed  June  8,  1867.  This  edifice  was  destroyed  by  fire 
in  September,  1870,  and  another  was  built  and  consecrated 
November  23,  1871.  The  first  rector  was  Rev.  Eugene  C. 
Pattison,  from  September,  1864,  to  some  time  in  1868.  His 
successors  were  Rev.  Benjamin  F.  Miller,  July,  1869,  to  Octo- 
ber 1,  1875;  Rev.  John  C.  S.  Weills,  April,  1876,  to  April, 
1878  ;  Rev.  Robert  B.  Van  Kleeck,  July,  1878,  to  December, 
1878;  Rev.  John  H.  Nimmo,  December,  1878,  to  October, 
188 1,  and  Rev.  John  C.  S.  Weills,  October,  1881,  and  pres- 
ent incumbent.  Since  organization  63  have  received  Holy 
Baptism,  and  66  have  been  confirmed.  The  number  of  com- 
municants in  1864  was  about  20 ;  in  1870,30;  in  1880,37. 
The  present  number  is  60.  In  1864 the  wardens  were  Henry 
Peck  and  Isaac  Lawton.  In  1870  the  wardens  were  Henry 
Peck  and  George  P.  Tompkins.  In  1880  the  wardens  were 
Richard  H.  Mitchell  and  James  F.  Goodell,  M.D.  Occasional 
services  were  held  in  and  near  the  village  of  Millbrook  by 
Rev.  Sheldon  Davis  and  other  missionaries  as  early  as  1840. 
In  May,  1863,  Rev.  Eugene  C.  Pattison,  missionary  at  St. 
Peter's  Church,  Lithgow,  began  regular  services,  once  each 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  355 

Sunday.  He  continued  them  as  long  as  he  remained  at 
Lithgow  ;  and  during  his  labors  the  parish  was  organized  and 
the  first  church  building  erected  and  consecrated.  After  its 
burning,  as  above  recorded,  another  building  was  erected 
upon  a  more  favorable  site.  The  cost  of  this  building  was 
about  $6,000. 

CHURCH  OF  THE  BELOVED  DISCIPLE,  NEW 
YORK. 

This  parish  was  organized  in  November,  1873,  and  re- 
ceived into  union  with  the  Convention  in  1880.  The  church 
was  built  in  1873.  Rev.  Isaac  H.  Tuttle  filled  the  rectorship 
from  November,  1873,  to  Easter,  1879,  being  at  the  same 
time  rector  of  St.  Luke's  Church,  New  York  City.  During 
the  same  period  Rev.  Francis  H.  Stubbs  had  care  of  the  par- 
ish as  minister  in  charge.  Rev.  Arthur  H.  Warner  was 
elected  rector  on  Wednesday  in  Easter  week,  1879,  and  *s  tne 
present  incumbent.  A  rectory  adjoining  the  church,  and  in 
corresponding  material  and  architecture,  was  provided  in 
1881.  In  1880  a  building  was  erected  for  the  use  of  choir, 
vestry,  and  general  parish  purposes.  The  number  of  bap- 
tisms since  organization  is  359.  The  number  who  have  re- 
ceived confirmation  is  231.  In  1874  there  were  107  communi- 
cants ;  in  1884,  320,  and  at  present  there  are  325.  The 
wardens  first  elected  were  Richard  C.  Greene  and  James  B. 
Warner,  who  still  fill  the  office.  Previous  to  organization  in 
1879  and  the  election  of  the  first  vestry,  the  parish  had  a  pro- 
visional Board  of  Trustees  to  care  for  the  interests  of  the 
parish  ;  Messrs.  Cyrus  Curtis,  A.  B.  McDonald,  Stephen  P. 
Nash,  Francis  Pott,  and  Thomas  P.  Cummings.  The  church 
is  a  costly  building  of  stone,  Gothic  in  design,  generously  fur- 
nished with  all  the  appurtenances  of  a  well-ordered  worship, 
and  was  given  free  from  incumbrances  to  the  parish  and 
church  in  the  diocese  by  Miss  Caroline  Talman,  as  a  memorial 
of  her  father  and  mother,  John  Hubell  and  Sarah  Somerin- 
dyck  Talman.  Subsequently  two  other  buildings  have  been 
added — a  vestry  and  parish  house,  and  a  commodious  rectory, 
erected  at  large  cost  and  in  architectural  harmony  with  the 


356  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

church  which  they  adjoin,  both  in  material  and  design,  both 
admirably  furnished  and  also  a  gift  from  the  same  devoted 
daughter  of  the  Church.  Among  the  multiplied  instances  of 
individual  munificence  in  the  American  Church,  few  indeed 
excel  this  foundation  of  the  Parish  of  the  Beloved  Disciple, 
either  in  expenditure  or  completeness.  Miss  Talman  also 
endowed  the  "  John  H.  Talman  Fellowship,"  connected  with 
the  General  Theological  Seminary,  with  a  view,  partly,  of 
supplying  perpetually  a  clergyman  to  assist  in  the  services 
of  the  Church  of  the  Beloved  Disciple. 

GRACE   CHURCH,  CITY   ISLAND, 

Was  organized  in  1862.  The  first  services  were  held  in  May, 
1 86 1.  The  church  was  built  in  1863.  The  rectors  have  been  : 
Rev.  William  V.  Feltwell,  1868;  Rev.  George  Howell,  1871  ; 
Rev.  Joshua  Monsell,  D.D.,  1874,  and  Rev.  John  McCarthy 
Windsor,  since  1885,  and  at  present,  incumbent.  A  rectory 
was  procured  in  1868.  There  is  record  of  108  baptisms  and 
87  have  received  confirmation.  The  record  of  communicants 
is  incomplete ;  the  present  number  is  52.  The  wardens  in 
1862  were  George  W.  Horton  and  Charles  Stoltz,  Jr. ;  in 
1872,  George  W.  Horton  and  E.  L.  Worden,  and  Jacob 
Ulmer,  junior  warden  from  1882.  The  church  lot  was  given 
by  Mr.  George  W.  Horton  and  his  wife,  Margaret,  of  City 
Island,  and  the  church  was  erected  largely  under  the  generous 
auspices  of  the  Misses  Bolton,  of  Pelham  Priory.  For  several 
years  it  was  part  of  the  property  and  under  the  control  of 
Christ  Church,  Pelham,  whose  assistant  minister  resided  on 
the  island  and  officiated  as  its  pastor.  Thus,  Rev.  Mr.  Bartow, 
Rev.  Mr.  Cheevers,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Feltwell  were  successively 
in  charge,  the  latter  becoming  its  rector  in  1868.  The  records 
of  the  parish  have  been  imperfectly  kept ;  and  the  testimony 
on  which  the  above  facts  are  based,  gathered  chiefly  and 
necessarily  from  persons  connected  with  both  churches,  is,  in 
some  respects,  conflicting. 


PARISH    HISTORIES.  357 

ST.  MARGARET'S,  STAATSBURGH, 

Was  organized  April  24,  1882,  up  to  which  time  it  had  been 
a  chapel  of  St.  James's,  Hyde  Park.  The  edifice  was  built  in 
1858  by  Mrs.  Margaret  Livingston,  as  a  general  chapel,  and 
at  different  times  was  ministered  to  by  clergymen  of  different 
denominations,  until  it  became  attached  to  the  parish  of  St. 
James.  The  Rev.  Thomas  L.  Cole  was  called  as  rector  in 
1848, — his  first  pastoral  charge, — and  is  now  the  incumbent. 
The  rectory  was  built  in  1885.  Since  organization  there  have 
been  89  baptisms  and  32  have  received  confirmation.  The 
present  number  of  communicants  is  64.  The  wardens  are 
Maturin  Livingston  and  Miles  Hughes. 

CHURCH  OF  THE  HOLY  FAITH,  NEW  YORK* 

This  parish  was  received  into  union  with  the  Convention 
in  1882.  There  is  no  report  before  the  committee.  In  the 
Journal  of  1885,  Rev.  W.  E.  Eigenbrodt,  D.D.,  is  reported 
"  in  charge,"  and  the  wardens,  Solon  Farrar  and  George  G. 
Dudley.  In  this  report,  the  wardens  say :"  The  parish  has 
made  a  strong  fight  for  existence,  and  has  been  hindered  in 
its  progress  for  want  of  a  resident  rector."  In  1882,  Rev. 
John  W.  Kramer,  M.D.,  is  mentioned  as  rector,  at  which 
date  there  were  53  communicants;  in  1885,  there  were  45. 
No  other  data  are  available. 

ST.  ANDREW'S  CHURCH,  BREWSTERS, 

Was  organized  August  29,  1881,  and  the  church  edifice 
finished  in  the  winter  of  1880-81.  From  the  first,  Rev.  R. 
Condit  Russell  had  charge,  in  connection  with  his  work  at 
Somers  and  North  Salem,  until  the  Rev.  Ralph  Wood  Ken- 
yon  became  rector,  January  12,  1882.  He  remained  until 
January  23,  1883.  For  a  few  months  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cushman 
succeeded  as  "supply."  From  November,  1883,  to  May, 
1885,  Rev.  Frank  Heartfield  had  charge.  Subsequently, 
ministrations  were  given  by  several  clergymen  until  Septem- 
ber, 1886,  when  the  present  incumbent,  Rev.  Eli  D.  Sutcliffe, 


358  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

came  to  the  parish  as  minister  in  charge.  Since  organization 
there  have  been  41  baptized  and  27  confirmed.  The  present 
number  of  communicants  is  about  45.  The  first  wardens 
were  Seth  B.  Howe  and  Daniel  Tillotson.  At  present  the 
wardens  are  Seth  B.  Howe  and  Frank  Wells. 

CHURCH    OF    THE    REDEEMER,  PELHAMVILLE, 

Was  organized  February  27,  1872.  The  church  was  built  and 
opened  September  20,  1861.  The  rectors  have  been  Rev. 
Lewis  K.  Lewis,  1878,  and  Rev.  C.  W.  Bolton,  1880,  the 
present  incumbent.  The  parish  is  now  preparing  to  build  a 
rectory.  The  parish  records  are  very  imperfect,  but  it  appears 
that  there  have  been  75  baptisms,  and  that  35  have  been  con- 
firmed. The  present  number  of  communicants  is  56.  The 
present  wardens  are  J.  R.  Smith  and  William  A.  Leonard. 
When  the  present  rector  entered  in  charge,  services  were 
held  only  in  the  afternoon  of  Sundays.  He  at  once  opened 
with  full  morning  and  evening  services,  and  the  congregation 
has  steadily  increased.  There  is  no  other  church  organization 
in  the  place,  so  that  all  who  profess  and  call  themselves 
Christians  attend  and  worship  together.  The  general  outlook 
is  very  encouraging,  with  promise  of  strong  prospective 
growth,  as  the  neighborhood  is  rapidly  building  up  and  has 
many  points  of  advantage. 

CHURCH  OF  ST.  EDWARD  THE  MARTYR,  NEW 

YORK. 

This  parish  was  organized  March  18,  1883.  As  yet  it  is 
without  a  church  building.  The  present  and  first  rector  is 
Rev.  Edward  Wallace-Niel.  Since  organization  163  baptisms 
have  been  administered,  and  36  have  received  confirmation. 
The  present  number  of  communicants  is  225.  The  wardens 
are  S.  Seabury  Guion  and  George  Zabriskie.  Ground  has 
been  purchased  for  this  parish  on  109th  Street,  near  Central 
Park,  and  it  is  hoped  that  the  church  edifice  will  be  com- 
menced early  in  the  summer. 


PARISH    HISTORIES.  359 

CHURCH   OF   THE    HOLY  INNOCENTS,  HARLEM. 

This  parish  was  organized  January  I,  1876;  a  church  was 
built  in  1877,  and  a  second  in  1884.  The  rectors  have  been 
Rev.  George  Coutts  Athole,  founder  of  the  parish  and  rector 
until  his  death,  October  2,  1884;  anc*  Rev.  Melancthon  Lloyd 
Woolsey,  rector  since  July,  1885.  The  records  are  defective. 
There  appear  to  have  been  78  baptisms ;  there  are  no  records 
of  confirmations.  The  present  number  of  communicants  is 
about  100.  The  first  wardens  were  John  W.  Brown  and 
Peter  J.  Frederick  ;  those  at  present  in  office  are  L.  P.  Fuller 
and  William  E.  Hows.  The  church  has  always  been  free. 
There  is  a  mortgage  debt  of  $13,861  resting  on  the  church 
edifice,  which  is  but  half  completed. 

CHRIST   CHURCH,  YONKERS. 

Was  organized  June  2,  1879.  The  church  edifice  was  built 
in  1872.  The  rectors  or  clergy  in  charge  have  been  (no 
dates) :  Revs.  Reginald  Heber  Barnes,  Charles  Ferris,  Wil- 
liam Hyde,  Samuel  Moore,  and  Aug.  Ulmann,  present  incum- 
bent, under  whose  ministry  a  parish  house  was  erected  in 
1885.  Since  organization  57  have  received  baptism  and  22 
have  been  confirmed.  The  present  number  of  communicants 
is  89.  The  wardens  in  1879  were  John  S.  Newlin  and  Thomas 
Franklin,  and  in  1885,  J.  F.  Bayer  and  Henry  Steugel.  The 
parish  was  reorganized  in  1885,  ar*d  admitted  into  union 
with  the  Diocesan  Convention  the  same  year. 

ST.    MARY'S   CHURCH,    BEECHWOOD, 

Was  organized  at  Easter,  1884,  although  the  church  was  built 
in  185 1.  The  Rev.  William  Creighton,  D.D.,  was  rector 
until  his  death,  in  1865,  and  Rev.  Edward  N.  Mead  titular 
rector  till  October,  1877.  Among  the  clergy  who  subse- 
quently officiated  were :  Rev.  Dr.  Eigenbrodt,  Rev.  Clar- 
ence Buel,  Rev.  Robert  Holden,  and  Rev.  John  Buckmaster. 
Rev.  A.  H.  Gessner  became  rector  in  1882,  and  is  present  in- 
cumbent.    The  number  of  baptisms  recorded  is  180,  and  50 


360  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

have  received  confirmation.  The  present  number  of  commu- 
nicants is  27.  The  only  wardens  mentioned  are  George  W. 
Cartwright  and  William  M.  Kingsland,  in  connection  with 
the  organization  in  1884.  This  church,  in  excellent  Gothic 
and  built  of  stone,  was  erected  by  Dr.  Creighton  on  a  part 
of  his  estate.  He  officiated  during  the  later  years  of  his  life. 
It  consists  of  a  nave,  transept,  and  chancel,  with  stained  win- 
dows throughout,  with  150  sittings.  At  his  decease  the  foun- 
der left  by  will  to  the  diocese  the  church  lot,  and  a  glebe  of 
two  acres  for  a  rectory;  also  a  legacy  of  $5,000,  the  interest 
of  which  should  be  used  towards  the  support  of  the  rector. 
Mrs.  Morell,  a  daughter  of  the  founder,  also  bequeathed  a 
legacy  of  $5,000  to  St.  Mary's  Parish. 

THE    ITALIAN    MISSION,   NEW   YORK. 

The  "  Italian  Mission  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  " 
was  organized  on  All  Saints'  Day,  1873,  by  the  Rev.  C. 
Stauder,  the  first  clergyman  of  Italian  birth  in  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  of  America,  and  conducted  under  the  su- 
pervision of  a  committee  of  clergymen  and  laymen  appointed 
by  the  bishop  of  the  diocese.  It  worships  according  to  the 
Prayer  Book  and  Hymnal  of  the  Church,  translated  and  ar- 
ranged by  the  minister  in  charge.  It  has  continued  from  the 
day  of  its  commencement  to  the  present  day  without  inter- 
mission or  suspension,  counting  a  membership  of  more  than 
1,100  members,  nearly  700  of  them  confirmed  by  our  bishop. 
Its  headquarters  are  in  Grace  Chapel,  126  East  Fourteenth 
Street,  where  solemn  services  are  held  in  the  Italian  language 
every  Sunday  at  4  P.M. ;  Sunday-school  at  3.30  P.M. ;  con- 
ferences Wednesday  and  Friday,  at  11  A.M.,  and  Holy  Com- 
munion the  first  Sunday  of  every  month  at  11.30  a.m.  The 
average  number  of  communicants  is  50.  It  has  left  behind 
schools,  Sunday-schools  and  meeting-houses  at  several  other 
points  in  and  out  of  the  city,  to  be  conducted  by  other  pious 
Christian  individuals,  who  try  to  reach  where  a  single  clergy- 
man is  ineffective. 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  361 

CHURCH  OF  ST.  AUGUSTINE,  CROTON.* 

This  parish,  organized  as  a  mission  in  1854,  was  admitted 
into  union  with  the  Convention  in  1885,  and  has  been  under 
the  continuous  rectorship  of  Rev.  A.  V.  Clarkson,  according 
to  the  records  of  the  Convention  Journal  for  1885.  There  are 
no  additional  statistics. 

ST.  MARK'S  CHURCH,  KATONAH  * 

This  parish,  although,  according  to  the  Convention  Journal 
for  1885,  admitted  into  the  union  in  1853,  does  not  appear  in 
the  diocesan  list  of  churches  until  1855.  Rev.  A.  H.  Partridge 
was  the  first  rector,  in  1855  !  a  vacancy  in  1856;  Rev.  E.  B. 
Boggs,  1857-1863,  since  which  date  there  is,  apparently,  an 
unbroken  vacancy  in  the  rectorship.  There  are  no  reports, 
and  no  additional  statistics. 

ALL  SAINTS'  CHURCH,  ROSENDALE  * 

No  report  has  been  received,  and  the  church  is  not  in  union 
with  the  Convention.  In  1885  Rev.  Edward  Ransford  was 
priest  in  charge,  and  Cornelius  Hardenbergh  and  Henry  P. 
Delafield,  wardens.  The  number  of  communicants  was  24. 
The  mission  comprises  a  large  district,  including  six  villages 
more  or  less  populous. 

CHAPEL  OF  S.  STEPHEN'S  COLLEGE,  ANNANDALE. 

This  is  not  an  organized  parish.  It  was  first  occupied  as 
a  missionary  station  by  Rev.  Jas.  Starr  Clark,  as  the  nucleus 
of  an  educational  work.  Subsequently,  in  the  development 
of  St.  Stephen's  College,  this  chapel  (The  Holy  Innocents) 
became  the  college  chapel,  extending  parochial  and  pastoral 
ministrations  to  the  neighborhood.  The  first  edifice  was  de- 
stroyed by  fire  in  December,  1858,  but  it  was  rebuilt  and 
consecrated  February  3,  i860.  It  has  been  constantly  under 
the  pastoral  charge  of  the  wardens  of  St.  Stephen's  College  : 
Rev.  G.  F.  Seymour,  M.A.,  missionary  from  185 5-1 860,  and 
warden  of  St.  Stephen's  to  September,  1861  ;  Rev.  Thomas 


362  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

Richey,  M.A.,  from  1861  to  1863,  and  Rev.  R.  B.  Fairbairn, 
D.D.,  LL.D.,  from  1863,  and  present  warden.  There  is  a 
Sunday  school-house  which  was  used  for  ten  years.  It  is 
now  used  for  a  Sunday-school,  and  also  for  the  purposes  of 
the  college.  Since  the  foundation  568  baptisms  are  recorded, 
and  268  have  received  confirmation.  The  number  of  com- 
municants, apart  from  the  college,  is  50.  There  are  neither 
wardens  nor  vestry  of  a  parochial  organization.  The  wardens 
of  St.  Stephen's  have  charge,  ex  officio.  The  chapel  was 
built  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Bard,  after  excellent  designs 
by  Frank  Wills.  The  material  is  stone  from  Ulster  County, 
across  the  river,  and  an  illuminated  text  over  the  porch 
within  is  the  keynote  of  its  meaning:  "The  palace  is  not 
for  man,  but  for  the  Lord  God."  This  motto  was  selected  by 
the  first  missionary-warden,  and  was  the  text  of  the  sermon 
preached  by  Bishop  Horatio  Potter  at  the  consecration.  Its 
erection  marked  the  initial  step  in  the  work  of  religious 
training  and  education,  so  munificently  conducted  by  Mr. 
John  Bard,  Mrs.  Margaret  Johnston  Bard,  and  Mr.  John  Lloyd 
Aspinwall.  In  connection  with  the  chapel  and  parochial 
work,  the  Brotherhood  of  St.  Peter  was  organized  by  Rev. 
Walter  Delafield,  D.D.,  in  1864,  while  an  undergraduate.  It 
undertook  to  see  that  every  person  within  two  miles  of  the 
college  should  not  suffer  for  want  of  the  necessaries  of  life, 
and  that  they  should  be  encouraged  to  attend  worship  at  the 
chapel.  The  Free  Church  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  at 
Barrytown,  built  by  Mrs.  Aspinwall  as  a  memorial  of  her  hus- 
band, John  L.  Aspinwall,  was  a  result  of  this  association. 

ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH,  ST.  JOHN* 

This  parish  is  not  in  union  with  the  Convention.  The 
Rev.  Henry  Mottet  is  priest  in  charge  and  Rev.  Ernest  Voor- 
his,  deacon.  There  are  50  families  and  250  individuals  in 
the  charge.  There  are  6  communicants.  St.  John's,  consist- 
ing of  a  handsome  stone  church,  school-house,  and  parsonage, 
is  the  gift  and  is  maintained  at  the  cost  of  a  single  individual, 
in  memory  of  a  dear  departed  one,  among  a  people  unable  to 
maintain  the  ministrations  of  the  Church.    A  resident  deacon, 


PARISH   HISTORIES.  363 

a  lady  who  has  had  large  experience  in  ministering  among  the 
poor,  and  an  assistant  teacher,  devote  their  whole  time  to  the 
work  of  this  parish. 

ST.  JOHN'S   MEMORIAL   CHURCH,  ROSENDALE* 

This  parish  is  not  in  union  with  the  Convention.  In  1885 
Rev.  Peter  Claude  Creveling  was  rector  and  missionary,  and 
Ira  H.Lawton  and  William  J.  Close,  wardens.  The  communi- 
cants are  122  in  number. 

ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH,  WESTCHESTER. 

The  Lewisboro  parish  of  St.  John's  Church  lies  in  the 
north-eastern  part  of  Westchester  County,  and  borders  for 
several  miles  upon  the  State  of  Connecticut.  The  ancient 
designation  of  the  country  thereabouts  appears  to  have  been 
Lozver  Salem,  and  later  South  Salem,  but  in  1840  and  in  honor 
of  the  late  John  Lewis,  Esq.,  who  had  shown  himself  mindful 
of  its  welfare,  the  name  of  the  township  was  changed  to  Lewis- 
boro. There  is  record  of  the  performance  of  Divine  service 
within  the  bounds  of  the  parish  for  many  years  prior  to  the 
Declaration  of  American  Independence.  The  Venerable 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts 
cared  for  the  field.  Here  labored  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Dibblee, 
rector  of  St.  John's  Church,  in  the  colony  of  Connecticut,  who 
looked  upon  Salem  as  belonging  in  part  to  his  cure ;  and  the 
parish  of  St.  Paul's,  Norwalk,  in  the  same  colony,  was  thoughtful 
of  the  spiritual  interests  of  the  people.  Here  officiated  the 
brothers  Caner  and  Johnson,  earliest  president  of  King's  Col- 
lege, and  Beach,  of  beloved  memory,  and  Learning,  the  first 
choice  for  the  primacy  of  the  American  Church.  In  1771  the 
Rev.  Epenetus  Townsend  began  his  ministry  in  the  place,  and 
the  zealous  churchmen  of  the  parish  completed  the  erection  of 
their  first  church  edifice  "of  the  very  best  oak-timber," 
staunchly  braced  throughout,  and  strongly  secured.  It  stood 
about  one  and  a  half  miles  south-east  of  the  present  St.  John's 
Church,  South  Salem,  and  distant  less  than  a  furlong  from  the 
present  Connecticut  State  line.  Within  its  walls  the  word  was 
preached  and  the  sacraments  duly  administered   until  that 


364  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

July  Lord's  Day,  in  1776,*  on  which,  at  the  hour  of  evening 
prayer,  a  company  of  men,  with  weapons  loaded  and  bayo- 
nets pointed,  and  marching  to  the  sound  of  drum  and  fife, 
entered  the  hallowed  house,  and  at  the  offering  of  the  petition 
for  the  royal  family,  ordered  the  clergyman,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Townsend,  to  stop.  Shutting  the  Prayer  Book  he  at  once  left 
the  desk,  and  from  that  time  thirty-four  years  down,  the  pon- 
derous iron  latch  which  fastened  the  outside  door  was  not 
lifted  to  admit  for  the  purpose  of  public  worship.  In  1810 
the  parish  seems  to  have  undergone  reorganization  in  some 
sort.  From  October  15th  of  that  year  dates  the  Rev.  Mather 
Felch's  incumbency,  and  that  of  Rev.  George  Weller  from 
1816,  and  services  were  with  greater  or  less  regularity  main- 
tained until  1852,  when  one  whose  labors  of  love  are  to  this 
day  held  in  affectionate  esteem  by  the  Lewisboro  folks  and  in 
the  neighborhood  adjacent  to  them,  the  late  Rev.  Alfred  H. 
Partridge,  assumed  charge,  and  succeeded  in  repairing  the 
breaches  which  time  had  caused,  and  in  rebuilding  the  parish 
church,  and  renewing  the  former  parish  vigor.  Mr.  Partridge 
was  followed  in  1855  by  the  Rev.  Franklin  Babbitt,  and  he  in 
1859  by  the  Rev.  David  Scott,  and  he  in  1861  by  the  Rev. 
Angus  M.  Ives,  and  he  in  1868  by  the  Rev.  Robert  Bolton  of 
deservedly  grateful  remembrance.  Mr.  Bolton's  connection 
with  Lewisboro  marked  an  era  in  its  history,  and,  ardently  de- 
voted to  his  work,  he  accomplished  much.  Small  as  com- 
munities similar  to  that  of  Lewisboro  are,  still  are  they  usually 
large  enough  to  allow  of  divisions  in  Christian  sentiment,  but 
Mr.  Bolton  won  the  people's  hearts  and  did  that  which  it 
would  be  difficult  to  improve  upon.  In  1871  the  centennial 
anniversary  of  the  building  and  opening  of  the  first  church, 
the  corner-stone  of  the  new  St.  Paul's  Church  in  Lower  Lewis- 
boro was  laid  by  Bishop  Potter.  A  large  number  of  the 
clergy  and  laity  assembled,  and  the  occasion  was  one  not  soon 
to  be  forgotten.  The  site  of  the  new  church  is  an  eminence 
the  extensive  view  from  which  terminates  in  the  distant 
Connecticut  hills  on  the  north  and  east,  and  the  waters  of 


*  See  Bolton's  History  of  Westchester  County,  Vol.  I.,  page  421. 


PARISH    HISTORIES.  365 

Long  Island  Sound  far  to  the  south.  The  John  Lewis  dona- 
tion embraces  this  site  and  that  also  of  the  adjoining  parson- 
age, consisting  of  rectory  and  chapel,  which  cost  between  six 
and  seven  thousand  dollars.  The  gift  includes,  in  addition, 
about  forty-eight  acres  of  glebe-land. 

The  decease  in  October,  1871,  of  the  liberal  benefactor  of 
the  parish,  and  before  all  that  had  been  designed  was  consum- 
mated, has  somewhat  crippled  the  work  at  Lewisboro.  The 
Rev.  Robert  Bolton  was  succeeded  in  the  care  of  the  parish 
by  the  Rev.  Zina  B.  Doty,  and  he  by  the  Rev.  Alexander 
Hamilton,  and  he  since  January,  1884,  by  the  R-ev-  C.  M. 
Selleck. 


INSTITUTIONS   OF    LEARNING   AND 
CHARITY. 


INSTITUTIONS    OF   LEARNING   AND 
CHARITY. 

In  Canon  Overton's  Life  in  the  English  Church  (1660- 
1714)  he  observes:  "An  important  feature  in  the  Church  life 
of  the  period  and  a  sure  symptom  of  its  vigor,  may  be  found 
in  the  many  (religious  and  philanthropic)  societies  which  were 
then  founded  and  flourished  ;  "  and  as  illustrations  he  men- 
tions :  The  Societies  for  the  Reformation  of  Manners ;  the 
Religious  Societies  for  Young  Men ;  the  Society  for  Pro- 
moting Christian  Knowledge ;  the  Society  for  the  Propa- 
gation of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  parochial  libraries, 
charity  schools,  Chelsea  and  Greenwich  Hospitals,  Morton's 
College  for  Merchants  fallen  into  Decay,  being  honest,  sober, 
and  discreet  members  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  others. 
The  record  is  interesting,  if  only  because  it  shows  how  largely 
our  ancestors  anticipated,  and  at  least  outlined  a  department 
of  the  Church's  work  which  has  become  more  conspicuous 
to-day. 

Of  this  work  little  was  done  in  New  York  during  the  first 
half  of  the  century  just  ended.  The  Church  in  America  was 
weak,  and  though  relatively  stronger  in  New  York  City  than 
elsewhere,  had  there,  too,  the  task  of  laying  foundations  and 
of  maintaining  the  struggling  life  of  the  outlying  parishes  of 
the  diocese.  Still,  as  the  pages  which  immediately  follow  will 
show,  a  beginning  was  made,  and  when  greater  prosperity 
came  there  were  men  with  wisdom  enough  to  recognize  the 
opportunity,  and  with  courage  enough  to  improve  it.  They 
rest  from  their  labors,  priest  and  layman,  many  of  them,  but 
"  their  works  do  follow  them  ;  "  and  New  York  has  no  more 
honorable  feature  in  its  diocesan  history  than  the  large  con- 
secration of  wealth  and  energy  to  the  organization  and  main- 
tenance of  works  of  education,  mercy,  and  charity.  In  an  age 
with  new  emergencies  men  have  seen  the  Church  translating 
24 


370  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

her  Master's  message  into  a  "  language  understanded,"  verily, 
"  of  the  common  people  ;  "  and  with  a  vision  as  broad  as  her 
commission  to  minister  to  every  creature,  leaving  no  class  out- 
side the  reach  of  her  all-encompassing  beneficence. 

As  a  consequence  of  this,  there  has  been  developed  during 
the  latter  part  of  the  century  which  ended  with  the  year  1885, 
a  measure  of  lay  co-operation,  to  which  the  records  which  fol- 
low abundantly  testify.  As  a  story  of  beneficent  beginnings 
no  part  of  this  volume  can  well  be  more  significant.  The 
hope  of  the  Church  is  in  the  co-operative  endeavor  of  all  her 
children.  With  this  secured  to  her,  her  future  under  God  is 
not  doubtful.  H.  C.  P. 

TRINITY  SCHOOL,  NEW  YORK  CITY.     1709. 

This  school  was  founded,  in  connection  with  Trinity 
Church,  in  the  year  1709,  by  the  "Venerable  Society  (in 
London)  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts."  The 
first  building  erected  for  its  accommodation  was  built  by 
Trinity  Church,  on  grounds  contiguous  to  the  church  edifice. 
This  was  destroyed  by  fire  as  soon  as  completed,  and  a 
second  structure  was  speedily  erected. 

In  1800,  the  school  was  endowed  by  Trinity  Church,  and 
was  made  a  separate  institution,  under  its  own  board  of  trus- 
tees. In  1806,  it  was  incorporated  by  act  of  the  Legislature 
of  New  York.  In  1827,  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature,  the 
school  corporation  received  its  present  name,  "  The  New 
York  Protestant  Episcopal  Public  School,"  and  was 
authorized  to  establish  and  maintain  schools  or  departments 
for  instruction  in  English  literature,  mathematics,  philosophy, 
and  classical  learning. 

In  1832,  it  received  a  further  grant  from  Trinity  Church, 
and  a  commodious  building  was  erected  on  the  corner  of 
Canal  and  Varick  Streets.  This  was  occupied  until  1857. 
Then,  in  consequence  of  the  growth  of  the  city,  it  was 
deemed  advisable  to  seek  a  location  farther  up-town. 

Circumstances  have  delayed  the  intended  erection  of  a 
building  suited  to  the  school's  requirements,  and  it  has  been 


INSTITUTIONS   OF  LEARNING   AND   CHARITY.  371 

accommodated  temporarily  in  rooms  hired  for  the  purpose. 
Its  present  location  is  15 17  Broadway. 

The  work  of  Trinity  School  consists  in  the  religious, 
moral,  and  intellectual  training  of  boys  of  the  Church.  To 
the  younger  and  less  advanced  pupils,  elementary  instruction 
is  imparted.  To  those  of  sufficient  proficiency,  the  higher 
instruction  is  given  in  classics,  mathematics,  etc.,  fitting  them 
for  college,  and,  in  some  special  instances,  for  the  Theological 
Seminary.     The  number  of  scholars  on  the  foundation  is  72. 

The  present  rector,  the  Rev.  Robert  Holden,  entered 
upon  his  duties  in  1863.  Among  the  alumni  of  the  school 
are  many  of  the  clergy  and  several  of  the  bishops. 

CORPORATION  FOR  RELIEF  OF  WIDOWS  AND 
CHILDREN  OF  CLERGYMEN  OF  THE  PROTES- 
TANT EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  IN  THE  STATE  OF 
NEW  YORK.     1769. 

This  corporation  was  founded  September  29,  1769,  by 
royal  charter,  issued  by  George  III.,  King  of  England.  The 
work  it  has  to  do  is  to  furnish  relief  to  widows  and  children 
of  clergymen  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  State 
of  New  York,  who,  according  to  existing  laws,  have  been 
contributors  of  $8  per  annum  to  the  funds  of  the  corpora- 
tion. The  corporation  has  not,  nor  does  it  need,  any  build- 
ing or  structure  for  carrying  out  its  prescribed  work. 

Historical  Memoranda. — The  last  meeting  of  the 
corporation  before  the  Revolution  was  held  in  Philadelphia, 
October  4,  1775.  The  first  meeting  after  the  Revolution  was 
held  in  New  York,  October  5,  1784.  The  Rev.  Dr.  William 
Smith  was  the  first  president ;  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Moore  the 
first  secretary.  Mr.  J.  Alsop  was  treasurer  for  New  York, 
Mr.  J.  M.  Wallace  for  New  Jersey,  Mr.  Samuel  Powel  for 
Pennsylvania.  Dr.  Smith  having  resigned,  "  on  account  of 
his  advanced  age,"  the  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  White  was  elected 
president  in  1789.  In  the  act  of  the  Legislature  (1798),  estab- 
lishing "The  Corporation  for  Relief,"  etc.,  in  New  York,  the 
Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Provoost  was  made  the  first  president  of  the 


372  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

corporation  ;  the  Rev.  Dr.  Benj.  Moore,  secretary  ;  Mr.  W. 
Rutherford,  treasurer.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Moore  (bishop,  1801) 
was  elected  president  in  1800,  and  Bishop  Hobart  in  1812. 
Since  1816,  the  Bishop  of  New  York  has  been  president  of 
the  corporation,  ex  officio.  The  Legislature  of  New  York,  in 
February,  1797,  passed  an  "Act  to  amend  the  Charter  of  the 
Corporation  for  the  Relief  of  the  Widows  and  Children  of 
Clergymen  in  the  Communion  of  the  Church  of  England,  in 
America,"  by  which  the  name  or  style  thenceforward  was  to 
be,  "  The  Corporation  for  the  Relief  of  the  Widows  and 
Children  of  Clergymen  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
in  the  United  States  of  America."  In  March,  1798,  the 
Legislature  passed  an  act  establishing  "  a  new  corporation 
within  this  State."  From  this  date,  the  Corporation  for 
Relief,  etc.,  in  New  York,  dates  its  proper  history.  By  "  An 
Agreement,"  ratified  November  27,  1806,  it  was  arranged 
that  the  funds  of  the  original  corporation  should  be  equitably 
divided,  as  follows:  Whole  amount,  $26,485;  of  which  New 
Jersey  was  entitled  to  $4,289;  Pennsylvania,  $10,390 ;  New 
York,  $11,806.  With  this  capital,  the  funds  of  the  corpora- 
tion in  New  York  have  increased,  by  good  investments  and 
liberal  donations  and  bequests,  during  the  past  seventy  years, 
to  over  $230,000. 

Treasurers  of  the  corporation :  the  Rev.  Dr.  T.  B. 
Chandler,  1769-1774;  Walter  Rutherford,  1798-1811;  Peter 
A.  Jay,  1812-1842  ;  G.  G.  Van  Wagenen,  1843-1857;  William 
Betts,  1858-1872;  R.  M.  Harison,  1873.— Meetings  of  the 
corporation  were  held  from  year  to  year,  but  the  records  are 
sadly  defective.  All  the  minutes  from  1769  to  1775  are  lost, 
as  are  also  minutes  of  seven  years  between  1798  and  18 10, 
and  of  the  years  1817  to  1838  inclusive.  Since  1839,  how- 
ever, the  minutes  have  been  guarded  with  care  and  are  com- 
plete. 

In  1852,  owing  to  loss  of  records  by  fire  or  otherwise 
previous  to  1839,  ^  was  deemed  best  to  have  a  formal  election 
of  members,  both  clerical  and  lay.  The  lists  preserved  show  : 
1789,  clerical  members,  18,  lay,  64=82;  1808,  clerical  mem- 
bers, 22,  lay,  32  =  54;   1852,  clerical  members,  19,  lay,  8=27; 


INSTITUTIONS   OF  LEARNING  AND   CHARITY.  373 

1867,  clerical  members,  65,  lay,  12  =  77;  l%77>  clerical  mem- 
bers, 58,  lay,  8=66;  1882,  clerical  members,  51,  lay,  8  =  59; 
1882,  contributors  to  the  fund,  not  members  of  the  corpora- 
tion, 58. 

Officers  of  the  Corporation  (All  Saints'  Day, 
1885).— Rt.  Rev.  Horatio  Potter,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.,  presi- 
dent, ex  officio ;  Rt.  Rev.  Arthur  Cleveland  Coxe,  D.D., 
LL.D.,  senior  vice-president,  ex  officio;  Rt.  Rev.  Abram 
Newkirk  Littlejohn,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  second  vice-president, 
ex  officio ;  Rt.  Rev.  William  Croswell  Doane,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
third  vice-president,  ex  officio  ;  Rt.  Rev.  Frederic  Dan  Hunt- 
ington, D.D.,  fourth  vice-president,  ex  officio ;  Rev.  Joseph 
H.  Price,  D.D.,  vice-president  (annually  elected) ;  Rev.  Jesse 
Ames  Spencer,  S.T.D.,  secretary;  Richard  M.  Harison, 
Esq.,  treasurer.  Cadwalader  C.  Ogden,  Esq.,  Henry  Drisler, 
LL.D.,  Charles  C.  Haight,  Esq.,  Rev.  Thomas  M.  Peters, 
D.D.,  Rev.  William  N.  Dunnell,  together  with  the  president, 
treasurer,  and  secretary,  standing  committee. 

THE  NEW  YORK  BIBLE  AND  COMMON  PRAYER 
BOOK  SOCIETY.     1809. 

This  society  (known  at  first  as  the  Bible  and  Common 
Prayer  Book  Society)  was  founded  in  1809  by  the  Rt.  Rev. 
Bishop  Hobart.  It  was  incorporated  under  its  present  name 
in  1841,  and  has  for  its  work  the  distribution  of  Bibles,  New 
Testaments,  and  Prayer  Books.  It  has  no  building  of  its 
own,  but  its  head-quarters  are  at  Mr.  James  Pott's,  14  Astor 
Place.  This  society  is  one  of  the  oldest  in  the  country  for 
the  free  distribution  of  the  Word  of  God,  dating  back  beyond 
the  formation  of  the  American  Bible  Society.  In  Prayer 
Books  it  has  published  translations  in  German,  French,  Span- 
ish, and  in  the  Dakota  language.  The  work  of  this  society 
is  not  confined  to  New  York  by  any  means,  for  it  supplies 
Bibles  and  Prayer  Books  to  all  parts  of  the  United  States, 
and  distributes  more  than  50,000  volumes  annually. 


374  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

THE  PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  TRACT  SOCIETY. 

1809. 

This  society  was  founded  in  1809  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop 
Hobart.  It  has  for  its  work  the  free  distribution  of  religious 
literature  in  the  form  of  tracts  and  volumes  of  various  sizes. 
It  has  no  building  of  its  own,  but  its  publications  are  on 
hand  at  and  distributed  from  No.  14  Astor  Place,  the  office 
of  the  society's  agent,  Mr.  James  Pott.  In  the  carrying  out 
of  its  work  this  society  publishes  and  sends  forth  chiefly 
Church  tracts,  as  well  in  defense  of  the  faith  held  by  the  Prot- 
estant Episcopal  Church,  a  branch  of  the  One  Holy  Catholic 
and  Apostolic  Church  of  Christ,  as  for  the  promotion  of  godly 
living  and  obedience  to  the  Master.  It  has  distributed  of 
late  years,  on  an  average,  500,000  to  700,000  pages  annually. 

THE  GENERAL  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.    1819. 

The  General  Theological  Seminary  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  is  the  creation  of  the  General  Convention, 
and  must  continue  always  under  its  control.  It  owes  its 
existence  to  the  necessity,  which  was  felt  by  those  who 
organized  the  Church  in  this  country,  of  having  an  institution 
for  the  education  of  its  candidates  for  Holy  Orders,  which 
should  be  under  the  supervision,  and  meet  the  wants,  not 
merely  of  the  Church  in  any  one  diocese,  but  of  the  Church 
at  large.  As  early  as  1814  the  General  Convention,  urged 
thereto  by  the  Convention  of  the  Diocese  of  South  Carolina, 
appointed  a  joint  committee  of  both  houses  to  take  into  con- 
sideration and  report  a  plan  for  the  institution  of  a  Theo- 
logical Seminary.  Bishop  Moore  of  Virginia,  and  Bishop 
Hobart  of  New  York,  had  already  directed  their  efforts  to  the 
same  purpose.  In  1817  the  General  Convention,  after  an 
able  report  of  this  joint  committee,  adopted  in  both  Houses 
a  series  of  resolutions,  drafted  by  Bishop  Dehon,  of  South 
Carolina,  declaring  it  "  expedient  to  establish,  for  the  better 
education  of  the  candidates  for  Holy  Orders  in  this  Church, 
a  General  Theological  Seminary,  which  may  have  the  united 
support  of  the  whole  Church  in  these  United  States,  and  be 


INSTITUTIONS   OF   LEARNING  AND   CHARITY.  375 

under  the  superintendence  and  control  of  the  General  Con- 
vention," locating  this  seminary  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
and  appointing  a  committee  to  devise  a  plan  for  establishing 
and  carrying  it  into  operation  as  soon  as  sufficient  funds 
should  be  subscribed  for  the  purpose.  Thus,  as  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Samuel  R.  Johnson  quaintly  writes,  "  It  was  in  the  city 
of  New  York,  in  Trinity  Church,  on  Tuesday,  the  27th  of 
May,  1817,  in  the  morning,  that  the  General  Theological 
Seminary  was  born." 

The  plan  was  earnestly  supported  by  the  bishops  and  the 
leading  clergy  of  the  Church.  Bishop  White  expressed  "his 
own  anxious  desire,  and  that  of  his  brethren  the  other  bish- 
ops, for  the  success  of  the  enterprise."  Bishop  Hobart 
described  the  appeal  for  funds  to  establish  it,  in  an  address 
to  his  convention,  as  "  no  ordinary  call  on  the  liberality  of 
Episcopalians,"  and  exhorted  each  of  the  laymen  of  his  dio- 
cese, when  called  on  for  a  subscription,  to  "  consider  that  he 
was  to  make  his  contribution  to  an  object  of  more  importance 
to  the  interests  of  religion  and  the  Church,  than  any  other 
for  which  he  can  be  solicited,  and  which,  therefore,  demanded 
the  largest  exercise  of  beneficence." 

In  1818,  a  plan  sketched  by  Bishop  White  and  Bishop 
Hobart  was  adopted,  foreshadowing  the  institution  and  its 
several  professorships  as  they  exist  to-day.  Shortly  after 
this  Dr.  Clement  C.  Moore  of  New  York,  offered  his  munifi- 
cent gift  of  the  ground  on  which  the  seminary  now  stands,  on 
condition  that  its  buildings  should  be  erected  thereon.  The 
Rev.  Drs.  Turner  and  Jarvis  were  appointed  professors,  and 
the  institution  opened  in  May,  1819,  with  a  class  of  six  stu- 
dents, among  whom  were  the  late  Bishops  Doane  and 
Eastburn  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Dorr,  of  Philadelphia.  The 
students  met  the  professors  first  in  a  room  in  St.  Paul's 
Chapel,  afterward  in  the  vestry-room  of  St.  John's  Chapel, 
and  then  in  a  building  on  the  north-west  corner  of  Broadway 
and  Cedar  Street.  In  1820,  in  consequence  of  the  difficulty 
of  procuring  sufficient  funds  to  support  the  seminary  in  New 
York,  it  was  removed  by  the  General  Convention  to  New 
Haven.  The  Bishop  and  the  deputies  from  the  Diocese  of  New 


376  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

York  gave  their  reluctant  consent  to  this  removal,  only  on 
the  understanding  that  steps  would  be  immediately  taken 
for  the  establishment  of  a  diocesan  school  in  the  city  of  New 
York.  With  characteristic  energy  Bishop  Hobart,  in  less  than 
six  months,  opened  his  diocesan  school.  The  death,  how- 
ever, of  Mr.  Jacob  Sherred,  of  New  York,  in  1821,  leaving 
a  noble  legacy  of  $60,000  for  a  seminary  in  New  York,  gave 
the  General  Convention  an  opportunity  to  correct  a  mistake 
which  would  have  proved  fatal  to  the  continuance  of  the 
seminary  as  a  general  institution  of  the  Church,  and  to  re- 
move it  back  from  New  Haven  to  New  York. 

Thus  the  great  question  of  one  general  seminary,  to  be 
permanently  established  in  New  York,  was  finally  decided 
and  practically  settled.  The  decision  was  largely  due  to 
Bishop  Hobart's  far-seeing  wisdom  and  sagacious  judgment. 
His  position  required  him  to  weigh  carefully  the  whole  ques- 
tion of  diocesan  schools  or  one  general  institution ;  and  he 
foresaw  from  the  outset  that  if  the  seminary  was  to  continue 
the  General  Seminary  it  must  be  located  in  the  city  of  New 
York.  In  this  view,  as  well  as  in  the  development  of  his 
plans  for  its  organization,  the  procuring  its  charter,  and 
adopting  its  constitution,  he  was  sustained  and  aided  by  lay- 
men whose  legal  ability  has  rarely  been  equaled,  and  never 
surpassed  in  the  history  of  this  city.  As  has  been  well  said, 
"Jurisprudence  culminated  in  New  York  in  the  time  of 
Bishop  Hobart.  There  were  the  Chancellors  Kent  and 
Jones  ;  Justices  Livingston,  Thompson,  Van  Ness,  Irving, 
and  Colden  ;  the  Ogdens,  Hoffmans,  Wells,  Emmetts,  Spen- 
cers, Harisons,  Verplanck,  Troup,  Johnson,  Duane,  Clarkson, 
and  others ;  men  of  the  highest  professional  attainments, 
admirers  of  Bishop  Hobart,  and  he  in  friendly,  social  inter- 
course with  them.  Rufus  King,  too,  was  particularly  intimate 
with  the  bishop.  It  is  seldom  that  such  legal  ability  and 
practical  knowledge  can  be  readily  resorted  to  as  that  which 
the  bishop  was  in  a  condition  to  avail  himself  of.  An  endur- 
ing monument  remains.  In  the  charter,  constitution  and 
statutes,  indeed,  in  the  whole  structure  of  the  seminary,  may 
be  seen  the  impress  of  minds  which  knew  what  they  were 


INSTITUTIONS   OF   LEARNING  AND   CHARITY.  377 

about,  foreseeing  and  providing  for  contingencies,  which, 
however  unexpected,  failed  not  to  happen.  Those  who  have 
had  occasion  to  look  carefully  into  these  documents  may  have 
been  surprised  at  the  forecast  and  prudence  which  seemed  to 
have  prepared  for  exigencies,  and  to  find  when  unexpected 
dangers  have  threatened  that  the  interests  of  the  institution 
were  protected  already.  Even  when  a  vote  of  the  General 
Convention  was  procured  for  some  fundamental  alterations, 
it  was  found  upon  investigation,  that  the  thing  could  not  be 
done  ;  that  the  institution  was  a  General  Seminary,  settled  in 
that  position  at  its  origin  under  circumstances  which  drew  out 
and  tasked  the  greatest  and  best  efforts  of  the  best  and  great- 
est minds  then  extant,  as  well  in  the  legal  and  financial,  as  in 
ecclesiastical  and  devotional  departments  of  thought."  To 
such  men  we  owe,  under  God,  the  existence  to-day  of  "  The 
General  Theological  Seminary  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States." 

Thus  constituted,  the  seminary  was  reopened  with  23 
students,  in  New  York,  February  13,  1822.  An  introduc- 
tory address  was  delivered  by  Bishop  Hobart  in  Trinity 
Church,  and  the  classes  were  assembled  in  the  rooms  of 
Trinity  School,  on  the  north-east  corner  of  Canal  and  Varick 
Streets — an  arrangement  which  was  continued  until  they 
removed  to  the  present  East  Building  on  the  seminary 
grounds.  Churchmen  did  not,  however,  respond  to  appeals 
in  its  behalf  as  liberally  as  was  expected.  Notwithstanding 
earnest  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  friends  of  the  institution, 
funds  came  in  but  slowly.  Still,  the  number  of  students  seek- 
ing to  avail  themselves  of  its  privileges,  and  the  hope  that 
the  erection  of  a  building  to  insure  its  permanency  would 
awaken  greater  interest  in  the  seminary,  induced  the  trustees 
to  enter  into  contracts  for  the  erection  of  what  is  now  known 
as  the  East  Building.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  by  Bishop 
White,  on  the  28th  day  of  July,  1825,  in  the  presence  of  the 
professors,  students,  and  a  large  assemblage  of  citizens.  At 
that  time  the  site  was  a  rural  one,  far  removed  from  the  noise 
and  bustle  of  the  now  crowded  city,  and  looked  out  on  the 
noble  Hudson,  whose  waters  then  came  east  of  the  present 


378  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

Tenth  Avenue.  It  was,  however,  then,  as  now,  noted  for 
being  one  of  the  healthiest  portions  of  the  island  on  which 
the  city  is  built,  and  was  recommended  by  a  committee  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees,  of  which  Bishop  Bowen  was  chairman,  as 
affording  an  open  and  salubrious  retreat  to  those  clergy  and 
others  devoted  to  the  study  of  theology,  who  in  the  summer 
wished  to  retire  from  the  city. 

The  trustees  soon  discovered  that  the  erection  of  this 
building,  without  waiting  for  sufficient  funds  to  complete  it, 
was  a  serious  financial  mistake.  It  embarrassed  the  institu- 
tion, and  compelled  them  in  the  following  year  to  take  the 
"painful  but  necessary"  step  of  reducing  the  already  small 
salaries  of  the  professors.  Unfortunately,  at  this  period  the 
munificent  legacy  of  Mr.  Frederick  Kohne,  of  Philadelphia, 
was  made  known  by  his  death.  Unfortunately  for  the  semi- 
nary, because  Church  people,  unmindful  of  the  fact  that  the 
legacy  was  subject  to  a  life  interest  which  would  delay  its 
payment,  and  did  delay  it  for  twenty-four  years,  seemed  to 
think  that  it  at  once  rendered  the  seminary  independent  of 
all  external  aid,  and  immediately  began  to  slacken  their 
efforts  and  to  withhold  contributions  so  urgently  required — 
thus  allowing  the  future  legacy  to  become  a  cause  of  "  present 
impoverishment."  Added  to  this  source  of  embarrassment, 
the  land  presented  by  Dr.  Clement  C.  Moore  was  burdened 
from  time  to  time  with  heavy  assessments,  caused  by  the 
growth  of  the  city,  and  a  very  considerable  expenditure  of 
money  was  required  to  fill  in  the  water  lots  adjoining  it  on 
the  west.  The  latter,  though  seriously  crippling  the  seminary 
in  the  past,  will  hereafter  more  than  repay  all  that  has  been 
expended  upon  them,  and  prove  a  valuable  source  of  income, 
though  by  no  means  so  large  as  some  have  supposed. 

Meanwhile  the  expenses  of  the  seminary  went  regularly 
on,  the  increase  of  students  requiring  an  additional  outlay  to 
provide  another  building  for  their  accommodation,  and  while 
Church  people  withheld  their  contributions  in  the  expecta- 
tion that  the  Kohne  legacy,  when  it  came,  would  provide  all 
that  was  required,  funds  which  would  otherwise  have  been 
retained  as   a   permanent   endowment  were   gradually   but 


INSTITUTIONS   OF   LEARNING   AND   CHARITY.  379 

steadily  absorbed  in  meeting  the  daily  wants  of  the  institution. 
When  we  add  to  this  the  excitement  which  was  created  by 
the  unfortunate  party  spirit  which  was  aroused  in  those  days, 
of  which  the  seminary  was  too  often  made  the  battle-ground, 
it  is  a  marvel  that  its  doors  were  not  closed,  and  this  wise 
and  noble  foundation,  which  our  fathers  bequeathed  to  us, 
lost  to  the  Church.  But  all  honor  to  whom  honor  is  due. 
At  the  time  when  there  was  not  a  dollar  in  the  treasury  to 
pay  its  professors,  clergymen  of  distinction  and  learning  came 
forward  and  voluntarily  gave  their  services  to  the  institution. 
And  the  Churchman  of  to-day,  who  takes  the  trouble  to  study 
its  past  history,  while  he  may  feel  mortified  at  the  meager 
pittances  which  this,  his  chief  school  of  the  prophets,  has  paid 
to  its  professors,  in  comparison  with  the  salaries  paid  in  other 
institutions  of  learning,  will  also  feel  an  honest  pride  as  he 
compares  the  personal  character  and  literary  qualifications  of 
those  who  have  filled  its  professorial  chairs  with  those  of  the 
most  richly  endowed  institutions  in  our  country.  Not  to 
speak  of  its  present  Faculty,  a  body  which  the  present  writer 
does  not  hesitate  to  say,  in  learning,  ability,  and  devotion, 
will  not  suffer  by  comparison  with  any  other  theological  fac- 
ulty in  the  land,  where  shall  we  look  for  superior  instructors 
in  Biblical  Interpretation  to  the  learned  Turner  and  Seabury, 
or  in  Systematic  Divinity  to  the  accurate,  judicial  Wilson  and 
the  self-devoted  Johnson,  or  in  Pastoral  Theology  to  Bishops 
Hobart  and  Onderdonk  and  Dr.  Haight,  or  in  Ecclesiastical 
History  to  the  consecrated  learning  of  Bishop  Whittingham, 
and  Drs.  Ogilby,  Mahan,  and  Seymour?  A  brighter  galaxy 
of  distinguished  divines  cannot  be  found  in  the  annals  of  the 
American  Church.  And  it  is  no  small  part  of  the  noble 
heritage  of  our  General  Seminary  that  men  such  as  these, 
whose  names  will  be  held  in  honor  as  long  as  our  Church 
shall  last,  should  have  devoted  the  best  years  of  their  lives 
to  its  service. 

ADVANTAGES   OF  A   GENERAL  SEMINARY. 

Whatever  may  be  said   in   behalf  of  Diocesan   Divinity 
Schools  for  the  benefit  of  particular  localities  and  particular 


380  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

interests,  and  to  meet  the  wants  of  different  sections  of  this 
vast  country,  they  never  can  supply  the  superior  advantages 
or  take  the  place  of  a  General  Seminary.  The  able,  far-seeing 
founders  of  the  General  Seminary  knew  that  both  would  be 
necessary  in  their  place,  and  made  provision  in  the  original 
constitution  for  branch  schools  to  be  established  in  various 
localities.  Still  the  General  Seminary  will  always  offer  advan- 
tages superior  to  those  of  any  local  institution,  to  which 
we  may  be  allowed  to  refer. 

Placed,  as  it  is,  under  the  government  of  the  whole 
Church,  every  bishop  having  visitorial  power,  it  protects  its 
students  from  narrow  and  extreme  views.  The  via  media  is 
secured  by  the  very  structure  of  the  institution.  "A  diocesan 
school  will  naturally  (as  the  venerable  Dr.  Edson  remarks) 
take  its  cue  from  its  bishop  or  other  local  circumstances  of 
influence.  And  if  a  young  man  wishes  to  be  educated  for  a 
particular  diocese,  and  be  patterned  after  a  particular  bishop, 
he  may  properly  prefer  the  local  school.  But  if  he  wants  a 
more  general  type  of  churchmanship  and  of  ministerial  cult- 
ure, he  will  find  his  way  to  the  General  Seminary;  or  even 
if  he  intends  to  strike  off  into  one  ideal  religion,  the  general 
course  will  give  him  a  better  point  to  start  from,  and  will  put 
him  in  a  position  for  a  far  better  appreciation  of  the  whole 
subject  and  a  better  conception  of  his  favorite  idea.  The 
general  institution  is  wonderfully  constructed  for  firmness 
and  moderation.  This  is  most  happily  illustrated  in  the  even 
and  moderate  course  which  the  seminary  preserved  through 
the  agitations  and  the  panic  of  1844.  With  what  intelligence 
and  steadfastness  the  Faculty  of  that  day  stood  on  the  firm 
foundations  of  truth  and  breasted  the  storm  was  known  to 
observers  at  the  time,  and  is  better  appreciated  now  than  then. 
The  position  could  not  have  been  sustained,  nor  even  taken, 
by  any  Diocesan  Divinity  School  in  this  Church."  Again,  the 
General  Seminary  will  always  attract  the  largest  proportion 
of  the  candidates  for  Holy  Orders,  and  from  this  fact  alone 
be  able  to  offer  them  superior  advantages.  Already  it  has 
had  at  times  under  its  care  nearly  one-half  of  all  the  candi- 
dates in  all  the  dioceses  of  our  Church,  and  the  proportion  is 


INSTITUTIONS  OF   LEARNING   AND   CHARITY.  38 1 

likely  to  increase  rather  than  to  diminish  in  the  future.  In 
such  an  institution  will  be  found  the  highest  type  of  the 
theological  education  of  the  time.  A  central  point  for  the 
whole  Church — with  every  diocese  represented  in  its  Board  of 
Trustees,  and  every  bishop  having  an  official  interest  in  its 
welfare,  its  course  of  study  mapped  out  by  the  House  of 
Bishops — it  is  certain,  unless  the  Church  fails  in  her  duty,  to 
send  out  from  year  to  year  able  ministers  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, amply  furnished  with  a  sound  theology  and  thoroughly 
fitted  with  "  things  old  and  new  "  to  do  the  Master's  work  in 
this  sin-stricken  and  sorrowing  world. 

GENERAL   CHARACTER. 

The  seminary  was  founded,  and  must  be  conducted  as  long 
as  its  charter  and  constitution  remain,  on  a  basis  as  broad 
and  comprehensive  as  the  Church  itself.  Any  effort  to  make 
it  serve  and  advance  the  interests  of  a  party  must  necessarily 
come  to  naught.  The  General  Convention  elects  its  Board 
of  Trustees.  Every  diocese  is  entitled  to  representation  in 
the  Board.  The  course  of  study  is  prescribed  by  the  House 
of  Bishops.  And  each  bishop  of  the  Church  is  not  only  ex 
officio  a  trustee,  but  made  by  the  constitution  a  visitor  of  the 
seminary,  with  all  the  powers  that  that  involves.  Among  its 
trustees  there  are  Churchmen  of  every  shade  of  opinion.  In 
its  Standing  Committee  are  to  be  found  the  Rev.  Dr.  Dix 
and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Dyer,  working  side  by  side  in  perfect  har- 
mony, and  only  vieing  with  each  other  in  the  desire  to  pro- 
mote its  interests  and  to  enable  it  to  raise  the  standard  of 
clerical  education  in  our  country.  This  is  the  spirit  which 
animates  all  who  are  now  in  authority  in  it.  Witness  the 
efforts  which  have  been  made  of  late  to  bring  to  bear  upon 
the  students  the  impress  of  the  ablest  minds  in  the  Church  of 
all  schools  of  thought,  and  impart  to  their  future  lives  a 
breadth  which  can  never  be  secured  within  any  narrow  party 
lines.  Among  the  lecturers  appointed  within  the  last  few 
years  to  address  the  students  have  been  Bishops  Williams, 
Coxe,  Littlejohn,  Huntington,  McLaren,  and  Harris,  the  Rev. 
Drs.  Washburn  and  John  Cotton  Smith,  Professors  Drisler, 


382  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

Short,  Egleston,  and  Morris,  and  the  Hon.  Judge  Shea;  while 
among  the  occasional  preachers  invited  during  the  same 
period  to  preach  in  the  chapel  of  the  institution  are  to  be 
found  such  men  as  the  Rev.  Drs.  Dix,  Potter,  Hall,  Swope, 
Courtney,  Snively,  Cooke,  Shackelford,  McKim,  Mulchahey, 
Houghton,  Schenck,  Abercrombie,  Beach,  and  Tiffany.  Noth- 
ine  is  needed  but  a  united  effort  to  secure  endowments  which 
will  make  it,  what  it  was  designed  to  be  by  its  founders,  the 
great  central  School  of  the  Prophets  to  our  whole  Church. 

FINANCIAL   CONDITION  AND    RESOURCES. 

To  understand  its  present  financial  condition  and  how 
sorely  it  is  crippled  for  want  of  endowment,  it  is  necessary  to 
go  a  little  into  details  and  to  give  the  exact  figures.  Happily 
we  are  enabled  to  do  this  the  more  readily  by  referring  to  a 
very  careful  and  most  exhaustive  report  recently  prepared  by 
the  Standing  Committee.  From  this  report  it  appears,  after 
a  thorough  examination  of  the  records,  that  not  a  single  dol- 
lar of  its  trust  fluids  has  ever  been  lost.  Of  the  thousands  of 
dollars  which  have  been  handled  by  its  treasurers  during  the 
more  than  sixty  years  of  its  existence,  a  comparatively  small 
amount  of  a  legacy  left  for  general  purposes  was  lost  by  an 
investment  which  turned  out  badly  in  consequence  of  the 
financial  panic  by  which  it  was  followed.  Where  is  there  an 
institution  in  the  land  which  can  point  to  a  better,  we  had 
almost  said  as  good,  a  financial  record? 

But  to  make  assurance  doubly  sure,  to  surround  the  care 
of  the  trust  funds  hereafter  with  every  precaution  which 
human  wisdom  and  experience  can  suggest,  and  to  remove 
even  the  temptation  to  apply  their  income  to  any  other  pur- 
poses than  those  for  which  they  were  specifically  given,  the 
Board  of  Trustees  at  its  last  meeting  embodied  in  the  statutes 
the  admirable  plan,  which  was  adopted  first  by  our  General 
Board  of  Missions,  and  afterwards  in  several  of  the  largest 
charitable  corporations  in  our  country,  of  placing  all  trust 
funds  in  the  hands  of  a  special  committee,  composed  mostly 
of  laymen  of  acknowledged  financial  ability,  who  give  con- 
stant attention  to  their  care,  and  report  all  their  acts  to  the 


INSTITUTIONS   OF   LEARNING  AND   CHARITY.  383 

Standing    Committee   every   two   months.      It    is   doubtful 
whether  any  more  perfect  plan  can  be  devised  for  their  safe 
keeping.     Not  a  dollar  of  these  funds  can  ever  be  misapplied 
unless  by  the  criminal  collusion  of  three  individuals,  each  of 
whom  is  selected  because  of  his  reputation  for  business  in- 
tegrity.    In  the  hands  of  this  committee  the  trust  funds  of 
the   seminary,  amounting   to   $387,698.54,  are   now   placed. 
With  the  exception  of  $63,078.78  of  the  scholarship  endow- 
ments,   which    are   secured,  largely  by   the   consent    of  the 
donors,  by  the  leasehold  property  of  the  seminary  west  of 
the  Tenth  Avenue,  these  trust  funds  are  all  safely  invested  in 
bonds  and  mortgages  on  real  estate  worth  double  the  amount 
of  the  sum  invested,  or  in  bonds  of  undoubted  stability  and 
strength  which  were  given  by  the  original  donors  with  direc- 
tions that  they  should  be  retained.     The  interest  on  these 
endowments,  with  the  revenue  derived  from  the  real  estate 
west  of  the  Tenth  Avenue,  constitute  the  only  reliable  income 
on  which  the  seminary  can  depend  to  carry  on  its  varied  and 
most  important  work  of   supporting  and  educating  a  large 
proportion  of  the  candidates  for  Holy  Orders  in  our  Church. 
The   seminary,  while  for  sixty   years  it  was   greatly  re- 
stricted in  its  scope  on  account  of  inadequate  resources,  was 
yet  from  the  beginning  the  recipient  of  many  benefactions. 
The  donations  with  which  it  has  been  favored  are  as  follows: 
Sixty  lots  of  ground  by  Mr.  C.  C.  Moore ;  $60,000,  legacy  by 
Mr.  Jacob  Sherred ;  $100,000,  legacy  by  Mr.  Kohne,  of  Phila- 
delphia, not  realized  for  twenty-four  years  ;  $20,000,  legacy 
by  Mr.  George    Lorillard,   New  York;    $25,000,  gift  of   Mr. 
Peter  G.  Stuyvesant,  New  York;  $1,000,  special  gift  to  the 
library    by    Mrs.   Margaret    Pendleton;    $3,000,  gift  of   Mrs. 
Pendleton  for  general  purposes ;  $4,000,  gift  to  the  library  by 
Trinity  Church;  $5,000,  contributions  for  the  library  secured 
by  Bishop    Doane   and   Rev.   Drs.   McVickar  and  Anthon ; 
$5,000,  for  library,  by  Society  for  Promoting  Religion  and 
Learning;  $25,000,  endowment  of  Professorship  of  Pastoral 
Theology,  by  the  late  Samuel  Verplanck  Hoffman;  $25,000, 
by  the  alumni,  to  endow  Professorship  of  Revealed  Religion; 
$25,000,  by  Miss  Elizabeth  Ludlow,  to  found  and  endow  the 


384  CENTENNIAL  CHURCH   HISTORY. 

Charles  and  Elizabeth  Ludlow  Professorship  of  Ecclesiastical 
Polity  and  Law ;  $10,000,  raised  by  Dean  Seymour  for 
improvements  in  the  chapel,  library,  and  seminary  generally. 
$8,000,  legacy  by  Miss  Elizabeth  Ludlow;  $100,000  by  the 
widow  and  children  of  Samuel  Verplanck  Hoffman  to  endow 
Office  of  Dean  ;  $10,000  by  Mr.  George  A.  Jarvis,  of  Brook- 
lyn, to  endow  the  Bishop  Paddock  Lectureship  ;  $50,000,  by 
general  subscription,  to  build  Sherred  Hall  ;  $57,000  by  an 
individual  donor,  to  build  the  new  library  building  and  fur- 
nish it ;  $30,000  by  general  subscription,  to  build  Pintard 
and  Dehon  Halls,  of  which  $7,500  was  the  individual  gift  of 
Anson  G.  P.  Dodge;  $25,000,  to  build  the  deanery  now  in 
process  of  erection;  $10,000  from  Miss  Caroline  Talman,  to 
found  the  John  H.  Talman  Fellowship  ;  $10,000  from  heirs  of 
Tracy  R.  Edson,  to  endow  Instruction  in  Elocution,  etc. ; 
$10,000  from  Miss  Edson  to  add  to  the  above ;  $50,000, 
William  H.  Vanderbilt  legacy.  The  endowments  yielding  a 
revenue  now  amount  to  $387,698.54,  invested  in  bonds  and 
mortgages.  The  income  from  the  Hoffman  Foundation, 
endowing  the  Office  of  Dean,  is  by  direction  of  the  donors 
accumulating  for  the  benefit  of  the  seminary.  Under  the 
new  system  the  trust  funds  are  kept  by  a  board  of  five  trus- 
tees, and  only  the  income  is  paid  to  the  treasurer. 

FUNDS  NEEDED  FOR  THE  WORK. 
Let  us  estimate  what  the  seminary  needs  to  enable  it  to 
do  its  work  with  its  present  staff.  In  making  this  estimate  it 
must  be  remembered  that  as  a  charitable  institution  it  has  no 
income  from  its  students,  but  must  rely  entirely  on  the  inter- 
est of  its  endowments.  We  should  not  put  the  salaries  of  the 
dean  and  professors  at  less  than  $4,000  each.  In  neighboring 
literary  institutions  they  would  receive  about  double  this  sum 
for  the  same  amount  of  work. 

Salaries  of  the  dean  and  six  professors $28,000 

Scholarships  (for  aiding  indigent  students) 4,000 

Supplies  and  repairs 3,ooo 

Care  and  increase  of  the  library 2,000 

Employes  and  sundry  expenses 2,000 

Taxes  and  charges  on  real  estate 3,000 

Total $42,000 


INSTITUTIONS   OF   LEARNING   AND   CHARITY.  385 

To  meet  these  expenses  it  has  at  present : 

Interest    on    endowments    (less    fellowship,    lectureship,    and    prize 

endowments)  say ■  . .  .$12,775  °° 

Gross  revenue  from  real  estate  last  year ....    10,016  49 

Additional  revenue  if  all  the  vacant  lots  were  at  present  leased 6,000  00 

Total $28,791  49 

The  seminary,  therefore,  requires,  to  pay  its  present  staff 
of  professors  even  the  above  moderate  salaries  and  to  carry 
on  its  work  on  the  present  scale,  without  any  enlargement, 
upwards  of  $13,000  additional  income  per  annum,  or  the  in- 
terest of  $300,000.  Of  course  it  must  not  be  understood  that 
such  a  deficiency  is  now  annually  incurred.  The  institution 
at  present  pays  its  professors  only  an  average  salary  of  about 
$1,800  per  annum. 

The  following  endowments,  which  may  bear  for  all  time 
the  names  of  the  donors  or  any  names  they  may  select,  are 
those  most  needed: 

For  the  Professorship  of  Systematic  Divinity $50,000 

For  the  Professorship  of  Biblical  Learning 50,000 

For  the  Professorship  of  Hebrew  and  Greek  Languages 50,000 

For  the  Professorship  of  Ecclesiastical  History  (now  partly  endowed). .  .  .    25,000 
For  the    Instructor   in    Reading    the   Church   Service   and   Delivery   of 

Sermons i5>°O0 

For  five  fellowships,  each 15,000 

For  lectureships  each,  at  least 10,000 

For  scholarships,  to  aid  students  without  means,  each  from $2,000  to  5,000 

Fund  to  increase  and  care  for  the  library. 

Fund  for  general  endowment. 

Fund  to  erect  a  suitable  chapel,  a  library  building,  a  refectory  and  lecture-rooms 

and  additional  dormitories.     (One  or  all  of  these  buildings  might  be  made 

memorial  buildings,  and  bear  the  name  of  the  donor  or  of  one  whose  memory 

it  is  desired  to  preserve.) 
And  lastly,  as  the  charter  provides,  a  fund  to  found  and  maintain  a  home  or 

retreat  for  aged  and  infirm  clergymen  of  the  graduates  of  the  seminary. 

If  these  needs  of  the  seminary  seem  to  any  one  to  be 
large,  let  him  remember  that  it  can  never  receive,  like  other 
literary  institutions,  any  income  from  its  students.  Its  work 
being  wholly  eleemosynary,  it  is  compelled  to  rely  on  the 
income  arising  from  its  endowments  to  support  and  educate 
25 


386  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

at  present  about  one  hundred  candidates  for  Holy  Orders.  In 
the  near  future  it  will  probably  be  required  to  make  provision 
for  twice  this  number. 

DEVELOPMENT   OF  THE   PLANS   FOR   BUILDING. 

With  the  erection  of  Sherred  Hall  was  begun  the  filling 
out  of  a  magnificent  plan  for  a  group  of  buildings,  the  com- 
pletion of  which  will  give  the  General  Seminary  the  best 
advantages  of  the  present  age.  There  will  be  accommoda- 
tions for  two  hundred  students,  also  residences  for  the  dean 
and  each  member  of  the  Faculty,  and  a  chapel,  library  build- 
ing, and  refectory.  Three  sides  of  the  block  between  Ninth 
and  Tenth  Avenues  will  be  occupied  by  a  continuous  line  of 
buildings  forty  feet  in  depth,  leaving  the  southerly  side  on 
Twentieth  Street  open,  broken  only  by  three  double  houses 
for  the  professors,  fronting  on  Twentieth  Street,  at  intervals 
from  each  other.  The  chapel,  whose  chancel  will  be  on 
Twenty-first  Street,  will  be  in  the  center  of  the  line  of  build- 
ings on  that  street,  and  will  divide  the  whole  pile  into  two 
quadrangles.  At  the  north-west  angle  will  be  the  refectory, 
and  at  the  north-east  angle  now  stands  the  new  library  build- 
ing. The  entrance  to  the  whole  will  be  by  a  fine  porch 
on  Ninth  Avenue,  having  on  the  south  the  Deanery,  now 
building.  There  are  are  at  present  completed  Sherred  Hall, 
having  six  fine  recitation  rooms  admirably  ventilated,  with 
professors'  rooms  attached,  Dehon  Hall  and  Pintard  Hall 
having  students'  rooms,  supplied  with  every  convenience  and 
all  enjoying  a  southern  exposure,  and  the  library  building, 
perfectly  fireproof,  even  the  cases  of  iron.  Three  private 
library  rooms,  to  be  used  when  students  wish  to  make  espe- 
cial investigation,  are  on  the  same  floor,  and  on  the  first  floor 
suitable  rooms  are  provided  for  the  safe  preservation  of  the 
archives  and  valuable  documents  of  the  General  and  Diocesan 
Conventions.  The  library,  numbering  20,000  volumes,  is  one 
of  great  value,  and  has  now  the  advantage  of  attractive  and 
convenient  quarters.  There  is  need  of  larger  resources  for 
its  maintenance,  that,  with  its  antique  treasures,  it  may  be 
able  to  offer  to  readers  the  most  recent  works  in  theology  and 


INSTITUTIONS   OF  LEARNING   AND   CHARITY.  387 

Christian  literature  generally.  It  is  open  daily  from  nine  to 
five  o'clock,  for  clergy  and  others  who  wish  to  consult  it.  The 
plan  includes  for  the  chapel  a  ground  floor,  which  is  designed 
to  be  used  for  a  large  public  lecture-room  and  for  any  suitable 
ecclesiastical  meetings.  The  material  used  for  these  substan- 
tial and  tasteful  buildings  is  pressed  brick  and  Belleville 
stone,  with  dark  slate  for  steep  roofs.  The  interiors  of  the 
library  and  lecture-rooms  are  finished  with  buff-colored  brick, 
interspersed  with  black  and  red,  and  the  chapel  is  to  be 
treated  in  the  same  way.  The  style  of  architecture  is  that 
known  as  the  English  Collegiate  Gothic.  Many  of  the  ar- 
rangements are  due  to  the  excellent  judgment  of  the  present 
dean,  who  takes  the  greatest  personal  interest  in  the  progress 
of  the  work,  as  he  has  also  in  the  gathering  of  the  funds. 
The  architect  is  Mr.  Charles  C.  Haight,  who  was  the  archi- 
tect of  the  new  buildings  of  Columbia  College  and  is  a  son 
of  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Benjamin  I.  Haight,  Professor  of  Pas- 
toral Theology  for  many  years.  When  the  proposed  group 
of  buildings  are  all  erected  the  two  old  east  and  west  semi- 
nary buildings  will  be  removed,  and  then  the  block  compris- 
ing the  seminary  property,  standing  in  the  heart  of  the  city, 
convenient  to  all  parts  by  many  lines  of  public  conveyance,, 
will  be  a  happy  realization  of  an  ideal  theological  school  for 
the  training  of  young  men  to  take  up  the  work  of  the  Chris- 
tian ministry  wherever  duty  may  summon  them,  even  in  the 
most  stirring  centers  of  metropolitan  life. 

PROFESSORS   AND   OFFICERS. 

As  has  been  mentioned,  Drs.  Jarvis  and  Turner  were  the 
first  professors  at  the  establishment  of  the  seminary,  the 
former  retiring  for  a  Boston  rectorship  after  a  service  of  six- 
months,  the  latter  remaining  until  his  decease.  During  the 
brief  sojourn  of  the  seminary,  Bishop  Brownell  proffered  his 
services  gratuitously,  as  a  co-laborer  with  Dr.  Turner.  Dur- 
ing this  period,  Rev.  Bird  Wilson  was  appointed  to  the  Chair 
of  Systematic  Theology.  Meanwhile,  in  what  may  be  styled 
the  provisional  New  York  School,  organized  by  the  indefati- 
gable Bishop  Hobart,  who  assumed  the  Chair  of  Systematic 


388  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

Divinity  and    Pastoral  Theology,  Mr.  Clement  C.  Moore  was 
acting  Professor  of  Biblical   Learning  and   Interpretation  of 
Scripture ;  Mr.  Gulian  C.  Verplanck,  Professor  of  Evidences 
of  Revealed  Religion,  and  of  Moral  Science  in  its  Relations 
to  Theology  ;  and  Rev.  Benjamin  T.  Onderdonk,  Professor  of 
Church  Polity  and  Ecclesiastical  History.     On  the  reopening 
of  the  General  Seminary,  Drs.  Turner  and  Wilson  were  rein- 
forced by  the  members  of  the  New  York  School  ad  interim. 
The   Sunday  services  established  in  the  seminary  library  by 
Drs. Wilson  and  Turner  were  the  first  mission  work  undertaken 
in  the  region  where  the  seminary  found  its  now  permanent 
home,  and  became  the  germ  of  St.  Peter's  Parish.     In  1835, 
Rev.  William  R.  Whittingham  was  nominated  to  the  Chair  of 
Ecclesiastical   History,  which  he  filled  until  his  elevation  to 
the   Bishopric  of  Maryland  in  1840.     He  was  succeeded  by 
Rev.  John  D.  Ogilby,  Professor   of  Ancient    Languages    in 
Rutger's    College,    New  Jersey.     During   this    period,    Rev. 
Hugh   Smith,  rector  of  St.  Peter's  Church,  gave  instruction 
for  several  years  in  Pastoral  Theology  and  Pulpit  Eloquence, 
and  the  Rev.  Samuel  Seabury,  D.D.,  in  Christian   Evidences 
and  Moral  Science,  both  receiving  for  their  valuable  services 
the  thanks  of  the  trustees.     In  November,  1841,  Rev.  Ben- 
jamin  I.  Haight,  rector  of  All    Saints'    Parish,  became  Pro- 
fessor of  Pastoral  Theology  and   Pulpit  Eloquence,  and  for 
several  years,  Dr.  Edward  Hodges,  the  distinguished  organist 
and  musical  director  of  Trinity  Parish,  our  first  legitimate 
master  in  the  characteristic  music  of  the  Anglican  Church, 
was  employed  by  the  generosity  of  Trinity  Parish  to  instruct 
the   students   in    sacred   music.     In    1850,   Rev.   Samuel    R. 
Johnson,  D.D.,  was  elected  successor  of  Dr.  Wilson,  as  Pro- 
fessor of  Systematic  Divinity,  and  about  the  same  time  Rev. 
George  H.  Houghton,  then  and  now  rector  of  the  Church  of 
the  Transfiguration,  was   appointed   Instructor    in    Hebrew. 
On    the    10th   of  September,  Rev.  Milo   Mahan,  D.D.,  was 
elected  to  the  Chair  of  Ecclesiastical  History,  successor  of 
Dr.  Ogilby,  who  had  recently  died  abroad.     Dr.  Turner,  for 
forty  years  Professor  of  Biblical  Learning  and  Interpretation, 
died   December  21,   1861,  and    was  succeeded   by  Rev.  Dr. 


INSTITUTIONS   OF   LEARNING  AND   CHARITY.  389 

Seabury;  and  in  1862,  Rev.  Dr.  Eigenbrodt,  who  had  given 
gratuitous  services  in  this  department  for  some  years,  was 
elected  Professor  of  Pastoral  Theology  and  Pulpit  Eloquence, 
while  Dr.  William  Walton  became  Instructor  in  Hebrew  at 
the  retirement  of  Dr.  Houghton.  In  June,  1865,  Rev.  George 
F.  Seymour,  A.M.,  was  elected  to  the  Chair  of  Ecclesiastical 
History,  on  the  retirement  of  Dr.  Mahan.  In  1869,  Rev.  Fran- 
cis Vinton,  D.D.,  was  elected  to  the  newly  founded  Charles 
and  Elizabeth  Ludlow  Professorship  of  Ecclesiastical  Law 
and  Polity,  which  he  filled  for  three  years,  until  his  decease.  . 
His  successor  was  Rev.  William  J.  Seabury,  D.D.,  the  pres- 
ent incumbent.  After  six  years'  gratuitous  service  as  In- 
structor in  Hebrew,  Dr.  Walton  was  elected  to  the  Clement 
C.  Moore  Professorship  of  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  Languages. 
He  accepted  the  office,  but  his  death  very  shortly  followed, 
and  he  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Randall  C.  Hall,  D.D.  In  an 
effort  to  provide  for  the  newly-established  Office  of  Dean, 
Rev.  Theodore  B.  Lyman,  D.D.,  was  elected.  He,  however, 
declined,  and  Rev.  John  Murray  Forbes,  D.D.,  was  elected, 
and  retired  in  1872.  The  office  remained  vacant  until  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Seymour,  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  History,  was 
elected  permanent  Dean,  in  conjunction  with  his  professor- 
ship. After  a  vigorous  and  successful  administration,  which 
was  brought  to  a  close  by  his  election  to  the  Bishopric  of 
Springfield,  he  was  succeeded  in  the  Deanship  by  Rev. 
Eugene  Aug.  Hoffman,  D.D.,  and  as  Professor  by  Rev. 
Thomas  L.  Richey,  D.D.  In  1871,  the  present  learned  Pro- 
fessor of  Systematic  Divinity,  Rev.  Samuel  Buel,  D.D.,  was 
elected  and  entered  upon  his  duties.  In  October,  of  1872, 
the  Professorship  of  Biblical  Learning  and  the  Interpretation 
of  Scripture,  which  was  vacated  by  the  decease  of  Dr. 
Samuel  Seabury,  was  filled  by  the  election  of  Rev.  Andrew 
Oliver,  D.D.,  in  1873. 

THE  NEW  YORK  PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  CITY 
MISSION   SOCIETY.     1831. 

The  City  Mission  Society  was  founded  September  29,  1831, 
when  its  constitution  was  unanimously  adopted,  and  the  fol- 


390  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

lowing  officers  and  managers  chosen  according  to  its  provi- 
sions:  Rt.  Rev.  B.  T.  Onderdonk,  D.D.,  President;  Rev. 
Thomas  Lyell,  D.D.,  First  Vice-president ;  Rev.  J.  McVickar, 
D.D.,  Second  Vice-president ;  Jacob  Lorillard,  Third  Vice- 
president;  Edward  W.  Laight,  Fourth  Vice-president ;  James 
M.  Pendleton,  M.D.,  Secretary;  William  R.  Wadsworth, 
Assistant  Secretary ;  J.  A.  Perry,  Treasurer.  Managers  were 
chosen  of  the  clergy,  as  follows  :  Rev.  Messrs.  Henry  Anthon, 
Lewis  P.  Bayard,  William  Berrian,  D.D.,  Thomas  Brientnall, 
John  A.  Clark,  William  Creighton,  D.D.,  Manton  Eastburn, 
Augustus  Fitch,  John  M.  Forbes,  Benjamin  I.  Haight,  Fran- 
cis L.  Hawks,  George  L.  Hinton,  James  Milnor,  D.D.,  Will- 
iam Richmond,  J.  F.  Schroeder,  Antoine  Verren,  J.  M. 
Wainwright,  D.D.,  William  R.  Whittingham.  Managerswere 
chosen  of  the  laity:  four,  each,  from  Trinity  Church,  St.  Paul's 
Chapel,  St.  John's  Chapel,  St.  George's  Church,  St.  Luke's 
Church,  Zion  Church,  St.  Clement'sChurch,  St.  Peter's  Church, 
St.  Michael's  Church,  Grace  Church,  Christ  Church,  St. 
Thomas'  Church,  St.  Stephen's  Church,  Church  of  the  Ascen- 
sion, All  Saints'  Church,  St.  Mark's  Church,  L'Eglise  du  St. 
Esprit,  St.  James'  Church,  St.  Mary's  Church,  St.  Ann's 
Church,  and  St  Andrew's  Church. 

In  April,  1833,  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York 
passed  an  act  incorporating  Messrs.  Gideon  Lee,  Ogden  Hoff- 
man, and  William  Bard,  and  their  associates  and  their  succes- 
sors, a  body  politic,  by  the  name  of  the  "  NEW  YORK  PROT- 
ESTANT Episcopal  City  Mission  Society."  (This  act  was 
amended  March  16,  1866.)  The  objects  of  the  said  society 
are  declared  to  be :  "  To  provide,  by  building,  purchase, 
hiring,  or  otherwise,  at  different  points  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  churches  in  which  the  seats  shall  be  free,  and  mission- 
houses  for  the  poor  and  afflicted  ;  and  also  to  provide  suitable 
clergymen  and  other  persons  to  act  as  missionaries  and  assis- 
tants in  and  about  the  said  churches  and  mission  houses."  Act- 
ing under  this  charter,  the  City  Mission  Society  led  the  way  in 
the  establishment  of  free  churches  for  the  middle  and  poorer 
classes  of  the  city  population,  although  it  was  not  the  very 
first  in  the  field,  for  St.  Mary's,  Manhattanville,  was  the  oldest 


INSTITUTIONS   OF   LEARNING   AND   CHARITY.  391 

free  church,  and  the  Church  of  the  Nativity  the  next  in  order. 
So  great,  however,  was  the  success  of  the  society  in  gather- 
ing large  congregations,  and  in  sustaining  during  the  period  of 
its  first  active  operations,  the  Churches  of  the  Epiphany,  the 
Holy  Evangelist,  and  St.  Matthew,  that  the  attention  of  the 
large  and  richer  parishes  was  arrested  by  it,  and  they  were 
led  to  establish  free  chapels  of  their  own.  These  have  multi- 
plied, till,  at  the  present  day,  there  are  about  thirty  places  for 
church-worship,  open  every  Sunday,  free  to  all  who  choose  to 
come  ;  and  nine  of  these  are  commodious  and  some  even 
elegant  buildings,  in  which  large  congregations  are  gathered. 
After  the  field  at  first  marked  out  had  been  so  successfully 
occupied,  the  City  Mission  Society  was  led,  by  the  providence 
of  God,  to  take  up  the  public  institutions  of  the  city  and  ad- 
jacent islands,  and  minister  to  the  thousands  upon  thousands 
found  therein.  Out  of  this  work  have  grown  many  of  the 
best  benevolent  institutions  of  the  diocese,  like  the  House  of 
Mercy,  St.  Barnabas'  House,  Midnight  Mission,  New  York 
Infant  Asylum,  Sheltering  Arms,  Shepherd's  and  Children's 
Fold,  Bethlehem  Chapel,  Guild  of  St.  Elizabeth,  House  of 
Rest  for  Consumptives,  Fruit  and  Flower  Mission,  etc.  In 
the  early  part  of  its  work  the  society  purchased  the  dwell- 
ing houses,  Nos.  304  and  306  Mulberry  Street,  and  fitted 
them,  as  far  as  possible,  for  use.  Ere  long,  these  were  found 
to  be  too  small  and  inconvenient,  and,  accordingly,  the  cor- 
ner-stone of  a  new  building,  25  feet  wide,  5  stories  high,  and  80 
feet  deep,  was  laid  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Horatio  Potter.  This  sub- 
stantial edifice,  now  in  use,  with  most  of  its  furnishing,  was  the 
gift  of  Mr.  J.  J.  Astor,  and  cost  about  $19,000.  In  the  autumn 
of  1868  the  society  bought  a  piece  of  land,  50  by  100  feet,  on 
the  Ninth  Avenue,  between  Eighty-second  and  Eighty-third 
Streets,  and  erected  a  temporary  structure,  called  Bethlehem 
Chapel.  It  was  opened  on  the  Feast  of  the  Epiphany,  1869, 
but  in  the  following  year  it  was  removed,  and  a  new  chapel 
(the  building  now  standing)  took  its  place.  On  the  15th  of 
December,  1870,  the  chapel  was  opened  with  an  English 
service  by  the  bishop  of  the  diocese,  eight  other  clergymen 
being  present.     Since  then  the  services  of  the  Church  have 


392  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

been  steadily  carried  forward  under  the  auspices  of  the 
society.  The  principal  fact  of  permanent  historical  interest 
worthy  of  being  put  on  record,  is  found  in  this  which  follows  : 
In  1871  the  City  Mission  Society  had  become  so  embarrassed 
in  its  finances,  that  it  was  decided  to  cease  all  further  opera- 
tions. Notice  was  sent  to  each  missionary  that  his  services 
would  not  be  required  after  thirty  days.  All  the  real  estate 
of  the  society  had  been  mortgaged  to  the  full  extent,  $22,000. 
The  expenses  exceeded  the  income  by  some  $10,000  to 
$12,000,  and  there  was  a  floating  debt  of  $14,000.  A  new 
system,  however,  was  adopted,  and  in  ten  years'  time  the 
society  was  rescued  from  its  peril,  and  was  practically  free 
from  debt.  Truly,  "  man's  extremity  proved  to  be  God's 
opportunity!  " 

THE  PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  SOCIETY  FOR 
PROMOTING  RELIGION  AND  LEARNING  IN 
THE    STATE   OF   NEW  YORK.     1839. 

The  Society  for  Promoting  Religion  and  Learning  was 
founded  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1839.  The  act  of  incorpora- 
tion was  dated  April  4,  1839,  and  was  amended  May  6,  1844. 
The  society  has  no  structure  or  building  devoted  to  its  use. 
Its  property  consists  of  certain  lots  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
which  were  granted  to  it  by  the  corporation  of  Trinity  Church 
by  deed  of  endowment,  dated  November  20,  1839.  ^  *s 
made  by  canon  the  agent  of  the  diocese  for  distributing  all 
funds  for  theological  education,  and  it  consequently  calls  for 
and  receives  contributions  from  the  parishes  of  the  diocese. 
The  objects  of  the  society,  as  stated  in  the  act  of  incorpora- 
tion, are  "to  facilitate  to  young  men,  designed  for  the  holy 
ministry,  the  means  of  literary  and  theological  education,  to 
aid  in  the  support  of  missionaries  among  the  destitute  poor, 
or  in  the  remote  settlements  within  this  State,  and  otherwise 
to  promote  religion  and  learning  within  the  same."  Accord- 
ing to  its  last  report  to  the  Convention  (1885),  it  had  given 
aid  to  34  candidates  for  orders,  and  it  announced  that  for 
the  current  Conventional    year  it  would    need  the  sum   of 


INSTITUTIONS   OF   LEARNING  AND   CHARITY.  393 

$5,700.     Its  funds  have  been   liberally  used   in   aiding  pro- 
fessors and  students  of  the  General  Theological  Seminary. 

THE  FUND  FOR  AGED  AND  INFIRM  CLERGYMEN 
OF  THE  PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  IN 
THE   DIOCESE   OF   NEW   YORK.     1841. 

This  fund  was  established  in  1841  by  a  resolution  of  the 
Convention  after  a  favorable  report  of  a  special  committee, 
appointed  upon  the  suggestion  of  the  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  B. 
T.  Onderdonk  (See  Journal  of  Convention,  1840,  p.  52,  and 
of  1841,  p.  31.)  Canon  XVI.,  in  relation  to  this  fund,  was 
adopted  in  1842,  and  the  trustees,  consisting  of  three  laymen, 
annually  elected,  with  the  bishop,  were  incorporated  by 
special  acts  in  1853.  Every  congregation  in  the  diocese  is 
required  to  make  annually  a  collection  "  to  be  applied  in  re- 
lief of  clergymen  disabled  by  age  or  disease."  In  accordance 
with  the  provisions  of  the  canon,  the  trustees  of  the  fund 
assist,  by  quarterly  allowances,  such  aged  and  infirm  clergy- 
men as  are  canonically  connected  with  the  Diocese  of  New 
York.  The  treasurer's  report  for  1885  shows  that  the  total 
amount  of  invested  fund  at  date  is  $93,591.88.  The  present 
number  of  beneficiaries  of  this  fund  is  five.  The  Convention 
of  the  diocese  had  before  it  (1885)  several  important  sugges- 
tions in  regard  to  enlarging  the  scope  and  usefulness  of  this 
fund  ;  but  no  definite  action  has  yet  been  taken.  (See 
Journal  of  Convention,  1885,  pp.  100-104.) 

PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  MISSIONARY 
SOCIETY  FOR  SEAMEN  IN  THE  CITY  AND 
PORT   OF   NEW   YORK.     1843. 

This  society  was  founded  in  1843  by  the  ''Young  Men's 
Church  Missionary  Society,"  which  had  a  floating  chapel  at 
the  foot  of  Pike  Street,  East  River.  The  present  society  was 
incorporated  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature  of  New  York, 
under  the  above  title,  April  12,  1844.  Only  the  names  of  the 
Rev.  Smith  Pyne,  Messrs.  George  N.  Titus,  J.  R.  Van  Rens- 
selaer,   Pierre  E.  F.  McDonald,    and  Augustus   Proal  were 


394  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

mentioned  in  the  act.  To  this  society  the  "Young  Men's 
Church  Missionary  Society  "  gave  up  its  chapel  and  its  mission 
work.  The  members  of  this  society  are  clergymen  residing 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  or  the  city  of  Brooklyn,  canonically 
connected  with  the  Diocese  of  New  York  or  of  Long  Island  ; 
persons  having  paid  to  the  treasurer  not  less  than  thirty  dol- 
lars at  one  time,  and  annual  subscribers  of  not  less  than  one 
dollar.  The  society  elects  annually  a  Board  of  Managers 
with  necessary  officers,  the  Bishop  of  New  York  being  ex 
officio  president,  and  the  Bishop  of  Long  Island  ex  officio 
vice-president. 

The  work  is  for  the  benefit  of  seamen ;  to  protect  them 
from  their  voracious  enemies  ;  to  draw  them  from  wild  and 
reckless  ways  ;  to  attract  them  to  becoming  and  civilized 
habits;  to  raise  them,  as  a  class,  to  respectability;  and  to 
bring  them,  as  individuals,  under  the  influence  of  the  Gospel. 
For  this  purpose  the  managers  attend  the  services  and  take 
friendly  interest  in  the  seamen.  There  are  three  stations  in  New 
York  and  one  in  Brooklyn,  each  with  its  missionary.  Services 
on  Sundays  and  the  chief  Holy  Days  are  held  in  the  chapels, 
and  there  are  prayers  and  lectures  on  certain  week-day  even- 
ings in  the  mission  houses.  Reading-rooms  also  are  provided, 
to  which  thousands  of  seamen,  in  the  course  of  the  year, 
resort  ;  and  the  society's  Sunday-schools  are  well  attended 
by  the  children.  Many  baptisms  and  confirmations  of  sailors, 
of  members  of  their  families,  and  of  persons  living  in  the 
vicinity  are  administered.  Bibles,  Testaments,  Prayer  Books, 
and  other  books  in  various  languages  are  presented  to  seamen 
and  boatmen. 

In  1846  the  society  had  two  floating  chapels — one  on  the 
East  River,  and  one  on  the  Hudson  River.  These  becoming 
decayed  and  unsafe  were  disposed  of,  and  a  very  pretty  one 
built  since  now  lies  at  the  foot  of  Pike  Street,  on  the  east  side 
of  the  city.  In  1852  the  society  had  its  attention  called  to 
the  vacant  field  on  the  water  front  between  Wall  Street  and 
the  Battery,  where  large  numbers  of  canal  boats  and  sailing 
vessels  filled  the  slips  and  were  moored  at  the  piers.  On  in- 
vestigation it  was  decided  to  appoint  a  "  missionary  at  large," 


INSTITUTIONS   OF   LEARNING   AND    CHARITY.  395 

who  should  labor  more  especially  in  that  locality.  As  it  was 
thought  desirable  to  hold  "  open-air  services,"  Coenties  Slip 
was  settled  upon  as  the  center  of  operations.  A  "  Service  for 
the  Docks"  was  prepared,  taken  wholly  from  the  Prayer  Book, 
with  selections  of  appropriate  hymns.  This  was  printed  in 
tract  form,  so  that  it  could  be  distributed  for  use  among  the 
congregation  ;  and  the  compilation  met  the  approval  of  Bishop 
Wainwright.  Large  numbers  of  this  service  have  been  scat- 
tered in  different  directions,  and  it  has  exerted  a  most  bene- 
ficial influence  along  the  line  of  the  Erie  Canal  and  in  the 
vicinity  of  Coenties  Slip,  in  promoting  quiet,  order,  and 
decency  of  behavior  on  the  Lord's  Day. 

In  1880  land  was  purchased  on  West  Street  and  West 
Houston  Street,  on  the  Hudson  River,  and  plans  were  pro- 
cured for  a  substantial  building  of  brick,  to  include  a  chapel, 
a  reading-room,  Sunday  school-room,  quarters  for  the  sexton, 
and  a  house  for  the  missionary.  For  want  of  funds  only  a 
portion  of  this  edifice  has  been  erected.  A  legacy  recently 
received  will  enable  the  society  to  complete  the  purposed  plan 
by  building  the  chapel  and  the  house  for  the  missionary.  The 
society  has  a  house  in  Pike  Street  for  the  purposes  of  the 
East-side  Mission  ;  also  a  house  in  Franklin  Square,  used  as  a 
Home,  or  Boarding-house  for  Seamen,  under  the  constant 
supervision  of  the  society  and  its  missionaries.  Numbers  of 
seamen,  while  on  shore,  are  in  the  habit  of  depositing  for  safe 
keeping,  what  in  the  aggregate  amounts  to  large  sums  of 
money,  with  the  superintendent  of  the  Home.  Under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  missionaries  many  of  those  who  go  down  to  the 
sea  in  ships  have  been  led  to  abandon  the  use  of  intoxicating 
liquors  and  to  enroll  themselves  on  the  side  of  temperance 
and  sobriety. 

In  conclusion  it  is  a  gratification  to  be  able  to  put  on 
record  here  that  some  of  the  original  managers  of  1844  are 
still  among  the  society's  officers  and  guides,  and  that,  having 
been  permitted  to  see  the  fruit  of  over  forty  years'  labors  in 
this  field,  they  still  continue  their  active  participation  and  un- 
abated interest  in  the  truly  charitable  work  of  caring  for  the 
souls  and  bodies  of  seamen. 


396  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

ST.    LUKE'S    HOSPITAL.     1850. 

St.  Luke's    Hospital   was    founded   and   incorporated    in 

1850.  The  original  incorporators  were:  William  A.  Muhlen- 
berg, D.D.,  Lindley  M.  Hoffman,  John  H.  Swift,  Robert  B. 
Minturn,  James  Warren,  William  H.  Hobart,  M.D.,  Joseph 
D.  B.  Curtis,  Samuel  Davis,  Benjamin  Ogden,  M.D.,  George 
P.  Rogers,  Edward  McVickar,  John  Punnett  and  Henry  C. 
Hobart.     An  amendment  to  the  charter,  passed  March  28, 

185 1,  authorized  the  increase  in  the  number  of  managers 
from  13  to  31,  and  provided  that  seven  of  these  should  form 
a  quorum  for  the  transaction  of  business. 

The  nature  of  the  work  undertaken  is  thus  stated  in 
Article  I.  of  the  Constitution,  viz.  :  To  afford  "  medical  or 
surgical  aid,  and  nursing,  to  sick  or  disabled  persons ;  and 
also  to  provide  them,  while  inmates  of  the  hospital,  with  the 
ministrations  of  the  Gospel,  agreeably  to  the  doctrines  and 
forms  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  A  further  object 
of  the  institution  shall  be  the  instructing  and  training  of 
suitable  persons  in  the  art  of  nursing  and  attending  upon 
the  sick." 

The  land  on  which  the  hospital  stands  came  into  pos- 
session of  the  corporation  partly  by  grant  and  partly  by  pur- 
chase. The  hospital  was  opened  for  the  reception  of  patients 
May  13,  1858,  with  appropriate  religious  services.  Since  that 
time  to  the  present  date,  its  charitable  doors  have  never  been 
closed.  It  has  cared  for  24,408  patients  to  the  present  time, 
of  all  nationalities  and  of  every  religious  creed.  It  has  shown 
no  distinction  in  the  reception  of  patients  afflicted  with  acute, 
curable,  and  non-contagious  diseases,  on  account  of  color  or 
creed,  and  has  closed  its  doors  against  no  poor  man  on 
account  of  his  poverty. 

The  following  extract  from  the  twenty-fifth  Annual  Re- 
port is  equally  interesting  and  valuable :  "  When  this  hos- 
pital was  built,  the  population  of  this  city  was  about  500,000. 
The  total  accommodation  provided  at  that  time  in  hospitals 
was  in  940  beds.  Of  these  550  were  in  Bellevue  Hospital, 
350  in  the  New  York  City  Hospital,  and  40  in  St.  Vincent's 


INSTITUTIONS   OF   LEARNING  AND   CHARITY.  397 

Hospital,  which  had  then  just  been  opened.  So  extraordinary 
has  been  the  increase  of  hospital  accommodation,  that,  with 
a  present  population  of  between  1,200,000  and  1,300,000, 
New  York  city  provides  now  5,487  beds  in  institutions  sup- 
ported by  public  taxation,  and  2,857  beds  in  institutions 
supported  by  voluntary  subscriptions  and  private  charity, 
being  8,344  beds  in  all.  From  these  figures  it  will  be  seen 
that,  although  the  population  of  the  city  is  now  about  two 
and  a  half  times  as  large  in  number  as  it  was  twenty-five 
years  ago,  the  number  of  beds  provided  in  our  hospitals  for  the 
sick  poor  is  now  nearly  nine  times  as  great  as  it  was  then.'' 

St.  Luke's  Hospital  embodies  the  Christian  thought  of  its 
founder,  the  venerated  Rev.  Dr.  William  Augustus  Muhlen- 
berg, who  aimed  to  establish  a  hospital  in  which  the  religious 
and  churchly  sentiment  appealed  to,  to  build  and  support  the 
institution,  should  be  always  practically  manifested  to  the 
patients  in  its  administration.  The  motto  he  gave  the  hos- 
pital, and  which  he  caused  to  be  impressed  upon  its  corporate 
seal,  Corpus  sanare,  animam  sa/vare,  "  to  cure  the  body,  to 
save  the  soul,"  expressed  his  thought,  and  has  been  the  work- 
ing principle  throughout  its  career  of  more  than  a  third  of  a 
century. 

ORPHAN'S  HOME  AND  ASYLUM  OF  THE  PROT- 
ESTANT EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  IN  NEW  YORK. 
1851. 

The  Orphan's  Home  was  founded  in  1851  by  the  Rt.  Rev. 
Jonathan  M.  Wainwright,  D.D.,  D.C.L.,  and  the  Rev.  John 
Henry  Hobart,  D.D.  It  was  incorporated  in  1859,  under  the 
fuller  title  which  it  now  bears.  The  work  of  the  institution 
consists  in  the  care  and  training  of  children  who  have  lost 
father  or  mother,  or  both,  by  death.  Beneficiaries  of  the 
Home  are  admitted  between  the  ages  of  three  and  eight  years 
only.  They  are  expected  to  remain  until  the  age  of  twelve, 
unless  the  surviving  parent,  if  there  be  one,  remarries.  Such 
children  as  have  not  been  baptized  are  at  once  enrolled  in 
Christ's  flock  by  Holy  Baptism,  and  all  in  the  Home  are 
trained  in  the  Catholic  faith  as  held  and  taught  by  the  Prot- 


398  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

estant  Episcopal  Church.  The  building  in  which  the  inmates 
of  the  Home  are  accommodated  is  in  East  Forty-ninth  Street 
near  the  Fourth  Avenue.  The  occasion  which  led  to  the 
founding  of  this  institution  is  worthy  of  being  put  on  record. 
It  was  the  dying  request  of  a  father  that  his  children  should 
be  brought  up  in  the  faith  of  the  Church  of  which  he  was  a 
member.  This  request  was  carried  by  two  ladies,  communi- 
cants of  St.  Paul's  Chapel,  to  the  clergymen  named  above, 
and  through  their  zeal  and  activity  the  Orphan's  Home  and 
Asylum  took  its  place  among  the  charities  of  the  Church  in 
the  city  of  New  York.  It  may  also  be  mentioned  that  one 
of  the  Home's  beneficiaries,  now  gone  to  his  rest,  was  a 
presbyter  of  the  Church. 

ST.  LUKE'S  HOME  FOR  INDIGENT  CHRISTIAN 
FEMALES.  1852. 
St.  Luke's  Home  for  Indigent  Christian  Females  was 
founded  May  1,  1852,  by  Rev.  Isaac  H.  Tuttle,  D.D.,  and 
others.  It  was  incorporated  January  12,  1854,  the  incorpo- 
rators being  Anthony  B.  McDonald,  Edmund  M.  Young, 
Francis  Pott,  Samuel  Wiswall,  Charles  H.  Clayton,  Thomas 
P.  Cummings,  and  Christopher  S.  Bourne.  The  work  to 
which  this  institution  is  devoted  is  the  care  and  support  of 
aged,  indigent  female  communicants  of  the  Church.  A  pay- 
ment of  $100  entrance  fee  was  originally  required  ;  afterwards 
this  fee  was  increased  to  $200.  The  building  adjoining  St. 
Luke's  Church,  in  Hudson  Street,  was  purchased  and  occu- 
pied from  May,  1852,  to  1872.  The  new  and  spacious  build- 
ing, corner  of  Eighty-ninth  Street  and  Madison  Avenue,  was 
erected  in  1870,  and  is  capable  of  accommodating  66  inmates. 
It  is  a  matter  worthy  of  record  that  the  Church  of  the 
Beloved  Disciple,  adjoining  the  Home  on  Eighty-ninth 
Street,  with  sittings  reserved  for  the  inmates,  was  erected  by 
Miss  Caroline  Talman  as  a  "  memorial." 

SISTERHOOD  OF  THE  HOLY  COMMUNION.     1852. 

This  institution  was  founded  in  New  York  City  in  1852  by 
the  Rev.  William  A.  Muhlenberg,  D.D.     Its  special  province 


INSTITUTIONS   OF   LEARNING  AND   CHARITY.  399 

is  the  care  of  the  poor,  the  sick,  aged  women,  little  children, 
and  girls  training  for  service.  The  sisterhood  owns  and 
occupies  a  house,  built  as  a  "memorial"  to  the  daughter  of 
the  late  John  H.  Swift.  It  has  charge  of  a  Home  for  the 
Aged,  Shelter  for  Respectable  Girls  and  Servants,  Training 
House  for  Young  Girls,  the  Babies'  Shelter,  and  a  Dispen- 
sary. This,  it  is  claimed,  is  the  first  sisterhood  organized  in 
the  communion  of  the  Anglican  Church. 

THE    HOUSE   OF   MERCY.     1854. 

This  institution  was  founded  in  1854  by  Mrs.  William 
Richmond.  Its  chosen  field  of  labor  is  for  the  reformation 
of  young  girls  who  have  gone  or  are  going  astray,  and  for  the 
reclamation  of  fallen  women.  The  corner-stone  of  the  build- 
ing occupied  by  the  institution  was  laid  October  16,  1870. 
It  is  situate  at  the  foot  of  West  Eighty-sixth  Street,  New 
York,  and  affords  accommodation  for  75  inmates.  The 
Sisters  of  St.  Mary,  five  in  number,  have  the  work  of  the 
House  in  their  charge.     They  entered  on  this  work  in  1863. 

SAINT  STEPHEN'S  COLLEGE,  ANNANDALE.     1859. 

The  Rt.  Rev.  J.  M.  Wainwright,  D.D.,  was  the  first  who 
publicly  expressed  the  need  of  a  training  college  for  the  min- 
istry in  the  Diocese  of  New  York.  In  1852  he  had  the  subject 
before  his  mind  and  made  some  propositions  for  the  establish- 
ment of  one  in  the  neighborhood  of  White  Plains.  He  after- 
wards made  some  inquiries  about  the  possibility  of  commenc- 
ing such  work  at  Annandale,  and  proposed  to  take  a  house 
in  that  part  of  the  diocese  and  reside  there  some  weeks  in  the 
year,  and  give  such  a  school  his  personal  influence  and  super- 
vision. The  premature  termination  of  his  episcopate  of 
course  did  not  allow  the  completion  of  such  plans.  The  sub- 
ject was  taken  up  in  1856  by  the  Rev.  John  McVickar,  D.D., 
Professor  in  Columbia  College,  and  Superintendent  of  the 
Society  for  Promoting  Religion  and  Learning.  He  said,  in 
his  report  of  that  society  to  the  Convention  of  the  diocese, 
that  one  purpose  he  had  in  view  was  "  to  turn  the  attention 
of  the  Convention  to  the  small  number  of  our  own  candidates, 


400  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

so  inadequate  to  the  necessities  of  our  Church  and  to  the 
only  adequate  remedy  for  their  increase.     The  smallness  of 
the  number  arises,  obviously,  not  so  much  from  want  of  funds 
as  from   want  of  that  preparatory  training  which  surrounds 
the  youth  from  an  early  age  with  all  the  associations  which 
lead  him  to  that  choice  as  well  as  prepare  him  for  it.     In 
other  words,  it  arises  from  the  want,  in  our  diocese,  of  some 
Church  institution  or  training  school,  in  which,  as  a  nursery 
for  the  ministry,  the  destitute  sons  of  our  poorer  clergy  might 
find  a  home  under  Church  influences,  as  well  as  the  sons  of 
zealous  laymen— a  Church  school,  leading  to  the  ministry, 
adequately   endowed,    episcopally    governed,    and    annually 
reporting  to  the  Convention  its  condition  and  its  progress. 
Should  such  institution   arise  under  a  wise  organization  and 
episcopal  control,  it  would  doubtless  bring  forth  liberal  con- 
tributions, both  from  churches  and  individuals,  for  the  further- 
ance of  so  desirable  an  object ;  while  those  educated  within 
it  would  naturally  become  the  recipients,  according  to  their 
needs,  of  the  bounty  of  the  society,  which  is  now  bestowed 
on  preparatory  education,  under  circumstances  far  less  favor- 
able, and  too  often  antagonistic  to  the  very  end  for  which  the 
bounty  of  the  society  is  given.     The  advantages  which  the 
diocese  would  reap  from  such  an  institution  are  too  obvious 
to    need    enlargement.      This    report    would    only    add    the 
experience  of  the  society  in   their  frequent  disappointment 
among  their  scholars,  of  early  resolutions  and  paternal  wishes, 
not  to  add  honorable  engagements,  thus  frustrated  through 
academic  influences  over  which  they  could  have  no  control." 
The    Bishop,    the    Rt.    Rev.  Horatio    Potter,   D.D.,  said    in 
his  address  to  the  same  Convention  :    "  One    of   the  urgent 
wants  of  this  diocese  is  a  Church  training  school  to  take 
charge  of  hopeful  youth  from  a  very  early  age,  and  by  faith- 
ful intellectual  and  religious  culture,  to  prepare  them  for  the 
work  of  the  holy  ministry.     '  Without  money  and  without 
price,'  it  should  afford  shelter  and   nurture  to  the  sons  of 
deceased  clergymen  ;  and  by  its  economy  and  wise  and  ear- 
nest training,  it  should  be  capable  of  raising  up  men  of  sim- 
ple habits  and  fervent  hearts,  who  will  shrink  from  no  toil 


INSTITUTIONS   OF   LEARNING  AND   CHARITY.  401 

and  from  no  self-denial;  and  who,  'by  manifestation  of  the 
truth,  will  commend  themselves  to  every  man's  conscience  in 
the  sight  of  God.'  I  commend  the  object  to  your  serious 
consideration  and  to  your  prayers."  In  response  to  this  ap- 
peal the  Convention  referred  the  subject  to  a  special  commit- 
tee, consisting  of  the  Rt.  Rev.  Horatio  Potter,  D.D.,  the  Rev. 
Francis  Vinton,  D.D.,  the  Rev.  J.  Ireland  Tucker,  the  Rev.  G. 
T.  Bedell,  D.D.,  Mr.  James  F.  De  Peyster  and  Judge  Wendell. 

At  the  next  Convention,  in  1857,  the  Rev.  Dr.  McVickar 
again  referred  to  the  subject  in  his  report  of  the  Society  for 
Promoting  Religion  and  Learning.  "Among  their  further 
suggestions  they  would  venture  to  renew  that  made  by  them 
in  their  last  annual  report,  on  a  Diocesan  Training  School,  en- 
dowed and  ecclesiastically  recognized  and  governed,  to  which 
the  society  might  confidently  remand  such  of  their  applicants 
now  assigned  to  the  charge  and  superintendence  of  individual 
clergy,  as  being,  through  the  want  of  classical  attainments  or 
other  causes,  disqualified  for  entrance  on  the  full  Seminary 
course."  On  motion  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Vinton,  the  committee 
on  this  subject  was  continued,  "  with  instructions  to  report  to 
the  next  Convention."  The  bishop  also  said  in  his  address 
that  he  had  not  called  the  committee  together,  because  he  had 
"  not  been  able  to  see  as  yet  in  what  way  they  could  usefully 
exert  themselves."  But  he  added  that  the  Convention  "  would 
be  glad  to  know  that  the  object  they  had  in  view  was  in  a  way 
to  be  accomplished." 

At  the  Convention  in  1858,  the  Rev.  Dr.  McVickar  again 
referred  to  the  establishment  of  a  training  school.  He  said  : 
"  Were  the  funds  for  ministerial  education  made  adequate  to 
the  Church's  needs,  we  should  have  at  least  one  great  train- 
ing school  for  the  diocese,  regularly  organized  and  amply  en- 
dowed, under  episcopal  supervision,  as  a  Christian  home  for 
the  student,  for  the  preparatory  studies  of  the  Theological 
Seminary,  or  for  the  complete  education  of  the  missionary. 
Such  an  institution  would  alone  satisfy  either  the  needs  of 
the  Church  or  the  claims  it  may  rightly  make  on  the  zeal  and 
liberality  of  Churchmen.  Trusting  that  the  time  will  soon 
arrive  when  such  diocesan  institution  will  arise  to  give  effi 
26 


402  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

ciency  and  permanency  to  the  present  unequal  and  spasmodic 
efforts  on  which  this  great  cause  now  rests,  and  with  the  as- 
surance that  the  society  herewith  reporting  will  act  in  this 
matter  with  the  greater  zeal  and  liberality  in  proportion  as  it 
sees  the  diocese  earnest  in  the  same.'* 

In  the  meanwhile  Dr.  McVickar  had  begun  at  Irvington 
the  work  which  he  then  proposed.  But  at  the  same  time 
some  propositions  were  made  to  Mr.  John  Bard,  of  Annan- 
dale,  who  was  likely  to  take  up  the  matter  in  earnest.  Dr. 
McVickar  therefore  transferred  both  his  influence  and  efforts 
to  the  establishment  of  the  proposed  college  at  Annandale. 
The  bishop  alluded  in  his  address  to  the  proposition  of  an 
honored  presbyter  of  the  diocese,  and  stated  that  he  had 
made  this  transfer  "  because  a  promising  effort  to  establish  a 
training  school  had  been  recently  commenced  in  another 
place." 

At  the  Convention  of  1859  tne  bishop  said  in  his  address : 
"  Several  years  ago  I  turned  my  attention  to  the  subject  of  a 
training school  to  assist  in  preparing  young  men  for  the  sacred 
ministry.  We  greatly  needed  a  school  where  young  persons, 
of  the  proper  moral  and  religious  qualifications,  but  in  very 
different  states  as  to  their  literary  qualifications,  might  be  re- 
ceived, placed  under  influences  accordant  with  the  supreme 
aim  of  their  lives,  and  matured  with  all  good  learning,  until 
they  should  be  prepared  to  enter  the  General  Theological 
Seminary.  I  often  referred  to  its  importance  in  private,  and 
in  my  address  in  1856  to  the  Convention  I  pressed  it  upon  the 
consideration  of  the  diocese.  But  I  was  not  anxious  to  at- 
tempt to  build  up  a  mere  arbitrary  mechanical  project  before 
Providence  should  seem  to  open  the  way  for  something  real. 
At  length  I  am  happy  to  be  able  to  announce  that  a  begin- 
ning has  been  made  with  every  prospect  of  eminent  success. 
Through  the  munificence  of  John  Bard,  Esq.,  of  Annandale, 
Dutchess  County,  and  the  kind  co-operation,  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent, of  the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Religion  and  Learn- 
ing, a  training  school  has  been  opened  at  Annandale  under 
the  superintendence  of  the  Rev.  George  F.  Seymour,  well 
known  for  his  scholarship,  his  experience  and  ability  as  a 


INSTITUTIONS   OF  LEARNING   AND   CHARITY.  403 

teacher,  and  his  admirable  qualities  for  training  and  molding 
the  young." 

To  the  same  Convention  Dr.  McVickar  said  that  "  the  So- 
ciety would  also  thankfully  report  the  special  aid  and  assis- 
tance afforded  them  during  the  past  year  in  carrying  out  their 
plans,  by  a  warm-hearted  and  liberal  Churchman  of  this  dio- 
cese, in  the  establishment  and  endowment  of  a  training  school 
for  the  ministry,  preparatory  to  the  candidate's  reception  into 
the  General  Theological  Seminary."  .  .  .  "In  order  to  carry  out 
this  object,  land  and  buildings  at  Annandale,  to  the  value  of 
$60,000,  have  been  recently  transferred  by  this  liberal  donor 
to  a  Board  of  Trustees  approved  by  the  acting  bishop  of  the 
diocese,  who  becomes  also  the  head  and  visitor  of  the  school, 
and  an  act  of  incorporation  prepared,  by  which  at  once  all 
corporate  powers,  and,  in  process  of  time,  collegiate  privileges 
will  be  granted  to  it."  In  consequence  of  this  announcement 
the  Convention  appointed  a  committee  to  "  report  suitable 
resolutions  for  its  action."  The  next  day  the  Convention 
adopted  the  following  resolutions  reported  by  the  committee, 
the  Rev.  Francis  Vinton,  D.D.,  the  Hon.  John  A.  King,  and 
the  Rev.  T.  A.  Guion,  D.D.  : 

Resolved :  That  the  munificent  donation  of  property  at 
Annandale,  valued  at  $60,000,  for  the  purpose  of  a  training 
school  and  college  for  the  education  of  young  men  prepar- 
ing for  Holy  Orders  in  the  Church,  is  a  gift  to  the  Church 
in  this  diocese,  demanding  the  grateful  acknowledgments  of 
this  Convention. 

Resolved :  That  this  Convention  hereby  tender  the  thanks 
of  the  Church  to  John  Bard,  of  Annandale,  for  his  generous 
establishment  and  endowment  of  a  training  school  and  col- 
lege for  the  benefit  of  this  diocese. 

Resolved:  That  this  Convention  recognize  the  training 
school  and  college  at  Annandale  as  a  Diocesan  Institution, 
and  worthy  of  the  confidence  and  patronage  of  Churchmen. 

Resolved :  That  the  trustees  of  said  training  school  and 
college  be  requested  to  make  an  annual  report  to  the  bishop 
and  Convention  of  this  diocese,  to  be  read  and  entered  on 
the  Journal  of  the  Convention. 


404  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

It  was  also,  on  motion  of  the  secretary,  the  Rev.  W.  E. 
Eigenbrodt,  D.D.,  "Resolved:  That  the  proposed  'Plan  of 
a  Training  College  for  the  Diocese  of  New  York'  be  printed 
in  the  next  Journal  of  the  Convention  as  an  appendix." 

At  the  Convention  of  i860,  Dr.  McVickar,  on  behalf  of 
the  society,  said:  "That  to  the  liberal  appropriations  in  aid 
of  Mr.  Bard's  noble  benevolence  at  Annandale,  is  due  under 
God  the  successful  completion  of  that  long  cherished  and 
deeply  needed  Diocesan  Church  Training  School,  a  plan 
which  has  now  matured  into  the  legal  incorporation  of  St. 
Stephen's  College."  And  in  1864,  he  again  said:  "  For  the 
rising  reputation  of  this  Church  Institution,  the  society  now 
reporting  would  sincerely  congratulate  the  diocese,  as  afford- 
ing to  the  Church  what  it  had  till  then  wanted,  college 
teaching  and  church-training,  thoroughly  united  and  mutually 
operating  in  fitting  for  the  ministry."  The  last  reference 
which  Dr.  McVickar  made  to  St.  Stephen's  College  was  in 
his  last  report,  the  year  before  he  was  taken  to  his  rest.  He 
then  seems  to  say  with  great  justice  that  "  this  Church  Insti- 
tution may  be  said  to  be  the  child  of  the  Society  for  Promot- 
ing Religion  and  Learning." 

It  is  proper  to  state  here  why  the  college  was  placed  at 
Annandale.  When  Mr.  John  Bard  came  to  reside  on  the 
Hudson,  he  found  a  small  settlement  in  the  neighborhood  of 
his  estate  without  any  religious  privilege.  The  parish  church 
of  this  neighborhood  was  St.  Paul's,  Red  Hook,  which  was 
more  than  two  miles  distant.  He  immediately  interested 
himself  in  the  welfare  of  his  neighbors,  and  instituted  a  Sun- 
day-school. The  first  service  was  held  in  a  building  on  his 
estate  by  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Jamaica.  Shortly  after  this 
the  Rev.  James  Starr  Clark  came  to  act  as  missionary.  A 
building  was  erected  by  Mr.  Bard,  which  served  the  double 
purpose  of  a  chapel  and  a  parochial  school.  In  1855  the 
Rev.  George  F.  Seymour  took  the  place  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Clark, 
who  removed  to  Madalin,  where  services  similar  to  those  at 
Annandale  were  begun.  In  the  summer  of  1858,  while  the 
establishment  of  a  training  school  was  under  consideration, 
the  Rt.  Rev.  Horatio  Potter  spent  a  few  weeks  at  Annandale, 


INSTITUTIONS   OF   LEARNING  AND   CHARITY.  405 

the  guest  of  Mr.  Bard.  He  found  there  several  young  men 
under  the  instruction  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Seymour,  who  were 
preparing  to  enter  the  General  Theological  Seminary.  It 
appeared  to  the  bishop  that  this  work  only  wanted  enlarge- 
ment to  become  the  training  school  of  the  diocese.  The 
proposition  was  made  to  Mr.  Bard  and  to  Mr.  Seymour. 
The  subject,  after  due  consideration,  was  taken  up,  and  a  plan, 
after  much  consultation  with  the  bishop  and  the  Society,  was 
matured.  In  the  winter  of  1858  and  '59  a  committee  of  the 
Society  for  Promoting  Religion  and  Learning  visited  Annan- 
dale,  and  an  agreement  was  drawn  up  which  was  accepted 
by  Mr.  Bard,  the  society  and  the  Convention.  The  com- 
mittee consisted  of  the  Rev.  John  McVickar,  D.D.,  the  Rev. 
Edward  Y.  Higbee,  D.D.,  Mr.  James  F.  DePeyster,  Mr.  Cyrus 
Curtis  and  Mr.  Thomas  W.  Ogden.  "  They  report  that  after 
frequent  correspondence  and  occasional  interviews  with  Mr. 
Bard  on  the  subject  by  individual  members  of  the  committee 
during  the  winter,  a  visit  of  the  united  committee,  with  a 
view  to  a  personal  examination  of  the  school  and  the  premises, 
and  a  more  full  discussion  of  the  plan,  was  determined  on, 
and  finally  fixed  for  Saturday,  14th  of  May,  running  on  to 
Monday,  and,  on  the  part  of  one  member,  to  Tuesday,  the 
17th  inst.  The  majority  of  the  committee,  then  and  there, 
met  accordingly,  and  after  full  communication  with  Mr.  Bard 
and  the  teachers,  more  especially  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Seymour, 
the  responsible  head  of  the  establishment,  as  well  as  after  a 
highly  satisfactory  examination  of  the  scholars  in  their  classi- 
cal studies  by  an  academic  member  of  the  committee,  together 
with  evidence  open  to  all  of  quiet,  thorough  Church  teach- 
ing and  training  in  every  department  of  the  school,  as  well 
as  the  happy  influence  it  is  so  obviously  exerting  throughout 
a  large  district  of  country  around  ;  these  facts  have  brought 
your  committee  herewith  to  report  unanimously  and  heartily 
the  first  point  committed  to  them,  viz.:  'The  expediency  of 
co-operating  with  Mr.  Bard  in  the  establishment  of  such  pro- 
posed institution.'  The  second  point  referred  to  them,  viz.: 
'  The  method,'  demanded  and  received  longer  and  fuller  de- 
liberation, and  the  subjoined   plan  exhibits  the  final  result 


406  CENTENNIAL  CHURCH   HISTORY. 

arrived  at  by  them,  a  plan  which  they  herewith  submit, 
together  with  their  unanimous  recommendation  to  the  Board 
for  their  sanction  and  approval  of  the  same  ;  a  sanction  to  be 
so  officially  given  as  that  it  may  come  before  the  next  Con- 
vention of  the  diocese,  approved  by  the  bishop  and  patronized 
by  this  society  as  a  Diocesan  Institution  fully  and  legally 
organized. 

"  But  in  thus  submitting  the  committee  would  beg  leave  to 
premise  the  light  in  which  they  have  viewed  it  and  the  prin- 
ciples which  have  governed  them  in  framing  it.  They  regarded 
the  proposed  plan  in  the  light  of  a  tripartite  contract  or 
agreement — one  in  which  the  interests  and  rights  of  three 
parties  were  concerned,  and  were  to  be  respectively  guarded 
and  secured. 

"  Of  these,  the  first  and  most  important  party,  and  the  one 
for  whose  benefit  the  whole  was  created,  was  the  Church  in 
this  diocese.  This  end  was  to  be  obtained  by  making  the 
institution  supply  an  actual  need — the  want,  namely,  not  of 
a  Church  school  for  boys,  such  as  the  diocese  already  has 
many,  but  a  special  training  school  for  the  ministry,  confined 
to  those  sufficiently  advanced  to  know  their  own  minds  and 
actually  seeking  preparation  for  it,  and  being  ready  to  receive 
such  according  to  its  means,  at  whatever  age  beyond  the 
minimum  required  or  whatever  stage  of  progress  towards  the 
end  sought.  Such  an  institution  is,  and  has  thus  far  been,  a 
desideratum  greatly  felt  in  our  diocese. 

"  A  farther  point  to  be  guarded  against  was  all  appearance 
of  rivalry  with  the  General  Theological  Seminary  within  our 
own  diocese.  Its  specific  object  is,  therefore,  made  a  prepara- 
tory training  for  it,  except  in  cases  where  the  diaconate  sim- 
ply is  sought.  The  last  security  it  owed  to  the  diocese  has 
been  given,  by  making  an  elected  member  of  the  Convention 
an  ex  officio  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and  by  an 
annual  report  to  be  made  to  it. 

"  In  the  second  place,  our  society  was  to  be  guarded  in  be- 
coming a  party  to  this  plan,  lest  we  should  be  compromising 
our  own  position  as  trustees,  acting  freely  in  our  own  legiti- 
mate sphere  of  '  Promoting  Religion  and  Learning.'     With 


INSTITUTIONS   OF  LEARNING   AND   CHARITY.  407 

this  view  the  society  has  been  kept  wholly  free  from  all  finan- 
cial obligations,  while  at  the  same  time  an  intimate  relation 
with,  and  knowledge  of,  the  operations  of  the  school  is  pro- 
vided for,  by  having  two  leading  officers  of  our  Board  ex  offi- 
cio members  in  the  new  Board  of  Trustees.  All  aid,  there- 
fore, granted  from  our  treasury  will  be,  as  heretofore,  regu- 
lated by  the  number  of  our  scholars  therein  educated,  with 
the  further  advantage,  which  heretofore  we  have  not  had 
with  our  scattered  scholars,  that  the  instruction  they  receive 
is  sound  and  Churchlike;  their  conduct  irreproachable;  and 
consequently  the  bounty  of  the  society  well  bestowed. 

11  The  third  party  in  the  proposed  plan  was  obviously  the 
founder  of  the  endowment,  Mr.  Bard,  the  originator  and  the 
most  liberal  patron  of  the  school.  On  this  rare  example  of 
the  noblest  employment  of  wealth  it  is  not  needful  here  to 
pass  a  eulogium.  It  will,  we  trust,  have  its  due  reward  in 
the  success  that  will  attend  it — of  which  success  the  sanction 
now  sought  of  our  Board  will,  we  think,  be  a  sufficient  guar- 
antee. The  only  conditions  named  by  Mr.  Bard  are  such  as 
evince  more  deeply  the  spirit  that  has  dictated  the  gift,  and 
will  be  found  in  their  operation  to  add  to  its  practical  as  well 
as  spiritual  value  ;  being  first  that  the  present  school-house  on 
the  grounds  shall  be  retained  in  its  present  use  as  a  parochial 
school,  under  the  government,  however,  of  the  warden  of  the 
school ;  and,  secondly,  beyond  the  needs  of  the  professors  and 
scholars  of  the  training  school,  all  sittings  in  the  church 
shall  be  forever  free." 

The  offer  of  Mr.  Bard  referred  to  in  the  report  was  the 
transfer  to  the  Trustees  of  St.  Stephen's  College  of  about  fif- 
teen acres  of  land,  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Innocents,  and 
one  annual  subscription  of  "  one  thousand  dollars  during  his 
life  and  ability." 

This  record  of  the  origin  of  St.  Stephen's  College  will  be 
complete  by  giving  the  following  resolution  offered  by  the 
Rev.  Joseph  H.  Price,  D.D.,  and  adopted  by  the  society: 

"Resolved,  That  this  Board  having  completed  the  formal 
approval  asked  for  by  the  generous  donor,  desire  now  in  their 
own  name,  and  as  far  as  is  becoming  in  the  name  of  the 


408  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

Church  in  this  diocese  and  elsewhere,  to  record  their  pro- 
found sense  of  obligation  to  God,  from  whom  all  holy  desires, 
good  counsels,  and  just  works  proceed,  for  that  blessed  influ- 
ence under  which  this  benevolent  enterprise  has  been  devised 
and  carried  out,  and  also  their  sincere  thanks  to  him  who  has 
not  been  unmindful  of  the  heavenly  suggestion,  but  has  con- 
secrated to  the  glory  of  God  and  the  good  of  man,  that  wealth 
of  which  Divine  Providence  has  made  him  steward,  and  has 
thus  shown  most  honorably  to  himself  and  profitably  to  the 
Church,  the  influence  of  that  Church  training  he  is  so  anxious 
to  extend  to  others." 

The  next  step  was  to  obtain  a  charter  from  the  legisla- 
ture. The  Hon.  John  V.  L.  Pruyn,  LL.D.,  who  soon  after 
became  the  distinguished  and  efficient  Chancellor  of  the 
University  of  the  State  of  New  York,  was  enlisted  in  the 
work,  and  through  his  influence  and  personal  application  an 
act  of  incorporation  was  obtained,  which  was  dated  March 
20,  i860.  It  declared  "the  Trustees  of  St.  Stephen's  Col- 
lege "  to  be  a  body  corporate  "  for  the  general  object  and 
purpose  of  establishing,  conducting  and  maintaining  a  semi- 
nary of  learning  in  Red  Hook,  Dutchess  County,  which  shall 
be  a  training  college  for  the  education  and  Christian  training 
of  young  men  who  design  to  enter  the  sacred  ministry  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church."  The  charter  affords  all  the 
safeguards  for  the  special  work  which  the  Church  could  ask, 
and  also  grants  full  collegiate  powers  and  privileges.  The 
first  trustees  named  in  the  charter  were :  the  Rt.  Rev. 
Horatio  Potter,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.,  Oxon.,  the  Hon.  John 
V.  L.  Pruyn,  LL.D.,  the  Rev.  John  McVickar,  D.D.,  the  Rev. 
C.  S.  Henry,  D.D.,  the  Rev.  John  Ireland  Tucker,  D.D.,  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Buel,  M.A.,  the  Rev.  George  F.  Seymour,  M.A., 
the  Hon.  Murray  Hoffman,  LL.D.,  Walter  Langdon,  James 
F.  De  Peyster,  John  L.  Aspinwall,  John  Bard,  Mrs.  Margaret 
Johnston  Bard,  William  A.  Davies,  Homer  Ramsdell,  and 
Henry  W.  Sargent. 

The  trustees  organized  under  the  charter  April  11,  i860, 
by  declaring  the  bishop  visitor,  the  Hon.  John  V.  L.  Pruyn, 
chairman,  and  the  Rev.  George  F.  Seymour,  M.A.,  warden, 


INSTITUTIONS   OF   LEARNING  AND   CHARITY.  409 

by  which  title  the  head  of  the  college  was  to  be  known.  The 
trustees  did  not  adopt  any  plan  of  study  or  of  discipline,  but 
left  both  to  be  developed  by  the  wants  and  growth  of  the 
college.  Their  only  active  measure  was  the  provision  for  the 
erection  of  a  college  building. 

The  college,  therefore,  in  i860,  was  organized  and  pre- 
pared to  do  the  work  which  had  been  named  to  the  Con- 
vention of  the  diocese ;  but  the  college  was  without  build- 
ings, without  dormitories,  without  recitation-rooms,  without 
apparatus,  and  without  library.  There  were  twelve  young 
men,  however,  who  had  entered  and  sixty  others  had  applied 
for  entrance.  The  warden,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Rev. 
George  W.  Dean,  M.A.,  and  afterwards  of  Rev.  Charles  Bab- 
cock,  M.A.,  undertook  the  preparation  of  these  twelve  men 
for  entrance  into  the  General  Theological  Seminary. 

A  course  of  study  was  not  adopted  until  the  beginning  of 
the  academic  year  1862,  when  the  warden,  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Richey,  presented  and  published  one  in  the  first  catalogue. 
This  course,  revised  and  enlarged,  was  presented  by  the  next 
warden,  the  Rev.  R.  B.  Fairbairn,  to  the  trustees  in  1864, 
which  was  adopted  and  has  continued  as  the  curriculum  for 
the  past  twenty-two  years. 

It  was  soon  found  that  young  lads  of  fifteen,  as  the  bishop 
of  the  diocese  had  said,  would  join  us.  It  was  very  obvious 
what  intellectual  training  such  persons  needed  to  enter  on 
the  study  of  theology  in  a  divinity  school.  They  were  to  be 
trained  in  such  a  course  of  study  as  would  develop  and  bring 
into  operation  all  the  faculties  of  the  mind.  The  taste  was 
to  be  cultivated.  They  were  to  be  taught  how  to  study. 
They  were  to  be  made  acquainted  with  the  functions  of  their 
own  minds.  There  was  nothing  new  to  be  presented  in  this 
respect.  They  were  to  be  instructed  in  Latin  and  in  Greek, 
which  they  ought  to  be  able  to  read  with  accuracy  and  with 
some  degree  of  facility.  They  should  be  trained  in  the  realm 
of  quantity  so  far  as  to  give  the  power  of  discernment  and 
accuracy  and  to  cultivate  the  capacity  of  attention.  Rhetoric 
and  logic  were  to  hold  an  important  place,  as  they  were  to 
come  into  contact  with  men  in  order  to  instruct  and  convince 


410  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

and  persuade  them.  An  accurate  study  of  the  English  lan- 
guage and  literature  was  for  the  same  reason  a  necessity. 
They  would  require  a  knowledge  of  the  functions  of  the 
human  mind  as  intellect,  and  feeling,  and  willing,  and  there- 
fore they  were  to  be  instructed  and  trained  in  moral  philos- 
ophy and  in  intellectual  philosophy. 

The  course  of  study  therefore  embraced  the  course  which 
leads  to  a  bachelor's  degree.  As  there  was  only  to  be  one  class 
of  students  there  would  be  necessary  only  one  course  of  study. 
In  our  large  colleges  and  in  the  University  of  Oxford  there  are 
several  courses,  all  leading  to  the  same  degree.  In  Oxford  a 
person  may  choose  one  of  seven.  But  this  was  not  required 
in  the  Diocesan  Training  School ;  one  was  all  that  was  neces- 
sary. But  the  course  of  classics  and  philosophy  which  was 
adopted  was  as  full  as  one  of  the  seven  courses  in  colleges 
and  older  institutions.  This  course  now  embraces  the  usual 
books  in  Latin  and  Greek  which  are  read  for  a  degree,  and 
the  ordinary  mathematics  and  natural  philosophy,  and  a 
more  extensive  drilling  in  logic,  and  mental  and  moral  sci- 
ence. 

In  1866  the  charter  was  amended  so  as  to  give  to  the  col- 
lege the  power  of  conferring  degrees  in  the  arts.  It  had 
already  the  power  of  giving  degrees  in  divinity,  which  it  was 
not  teaching.  This  brought  the  college  under  the  visitation 
of  the  Regents  of  the  University,  and  made  it  one  of  the  con- 
federated colleges  which  constitute  "T/ie  University  of  the 
State  of  New  York."  The  effect  of  this  relation  to  the 
Regents  of  the  University  is  to  bring  the  college  in  its  in- 
struction up  to  the  standard  of  the  colleges  of  the  State.  The 
number  of  instructors  is  that  which  is  usual  in  the  most  im- 
portant colleges  of  the  country,  which  is  an  average  of  one 
to  ten  students. 

The  next  important  step  was  to  provide  accommodations 
for  the  students.  The  first  building  was  not  begun  until  1861. 
The  ceremony  was  conducted  by  the  first  warden,  Rev.  G.  F. 
Seymour,  who  removed  the  first  shovel  of  earth,  accompanied 
with  proper  religious  services.  This  building  was  occupied 
at  Christmas,  1861,  after  the  Rev.  Thomas   Richey  had  be- 


INSTITUTIONS   OF  LEARNING  AND   CHARITY.  41 1 

come  the  second  warden.  The  building  is  of  brick  and  will 
accommodate  thirty  students. 

In  1866  Miss  Elizabeth  Ludlow  and  her  sister,  Mrs.  Cor- 
nelia Ann  Willink,  proposed  to  build  a  suitable  residence  for 
the  warden,  on  condition  that  they  were  allowed  to  select 
their  architect  and  their  own  builders.  The  corner-stone  was 
laid  the  13th  of  June,  1866,  the  birthday  of  Mrs.  Willink.  The 
Rev.  Francis  Vinton,  D.D.,  officiated  at  their  request.  He 
and  the  Rev.  S.  R.  Johnson,  D.D.,  Professor  in  the  General 
Theological  Seminary,  and  the  warden  delivered  addresses. 
The  building  is  of  stone,  and  was  completed  and  occupied 
by  the  then  warden  on  the  18th  of  February,  1870. 

The  number  of  applicants  was  so  large  in  1868  that  further 
accommodation  had  to  be  provided.  A  temporary  building 
of  wood  was  erected  in  the  summer  of  that  year  and  was 
occupied  by  thirty  students  on  the  1st  of  October. 

A  capacious  dining- hall  was  erected  in  the  summer  of 
1873  with  money  left  by  will  by  Betsey  Preston,  of  Barrytown. 
The  first  dinner  was  served  at  the  commencement  of  that  year 
to  nearly  200  persons — the  bishop,  trustees,  professors  and 
students,  and  invited  guests. 

In  1875  an  observatory  for  the  reception  of  a  reflecting 
telescope  of  twelve  feet  focal  length  was  erected.  The  tele- 
scope was  left  to  the  college  by  John  Campbell,  of  New  York, 
who  had  been  a  trustee  and  a  contributor  to  the  college. 

In  1882  the  trustees  adopted  a  new  and  more  extensive 
plan  of  building.  Two  sections,  containing  accommodations 
for  twenty-four  students,  were  erected  in  1884,  and  were 
opened  with  a  service  of  benediction  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Henry 
C.  Potter,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  the  assistant  Bishop  of  the  diocese, 
on  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  consecration  of  the 
chapel.  This  is  a  substantial  building  of  stone  with  three 
rooms  for  two  students. 

The  chapel  was  erected  by  Mr.  John  Bard,  and  was  conse- 
crated on  the  2d  of  February,  i860,  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Horatio 
Potter,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.,  Oxon.  This  church  was  erected 
during  the  rectorship  of  the  Rev.  G.  F.  Seymour,  who  after 
the  organization  of  the  college  became  the  first  warden. 

The  parish  school-house   was  also  the  gift  of    Mr.  John 


412  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

Bard,  which  is  used  as  a  hall  for  declamations  and  reading, 
and  for  public  lectures,  and  on  Sunday  for  a  Sunday-school 
for  the  children  of  the  neighborhood. 

The  library  contains  about  4,700  volumes,  half  of  which 
number  was  given  by  Mr.  John  Bard.  Large  contributions 
have  been  made  by  the  Hon.  J.  V.  L.  Pruyn,  the  Rev.  John 
W.  Moore,  the  Rev.  J.  Breckenridge  Gibson,  D.D.,and  by  the 
Society  for  Promoting  Religion  and  Learning. 

The  beginning  of  a  collection  of  philosophical  apparatus 
was  given  by  the  Hon.  J.  V.  L.  Pruyn,  as  much  as  will 
illustrate  the  text-books  used  in  the  college. 

As  the  college  is  a  training  school  for  the  ministry, 
religious  and  moral  culture  was  the  first  thing  thought  of  and 
provided  for.  The  college  chapel,  of  course,  is  the  center  of 
all  religious  influences  and  teaching.  The  corner-stone  of  the 
chapel  was  laid  June  16,  1857,  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Horatio  Potter, 
D.D.,  the  address  having  been  delivered  by  the  Rev.  Ben- 
jamin I.  Haight,  D.D.  The  church  was  built  as  a  parish 
church  under  the  rectorship  of  the  Rev.  G.  F.  Seymour.  It 
was  nearly  completed  and  ready  for  use,  when,  on  St.  John's 
Day,  1855,  it  was  destroyed  by  fire.  The  rebuilding  was  not 
begun  until  progress  was  made  in  the  establishment  of  the 
college.  Work  was  resumed  in  May,  1859,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Mr.  Charles  Babcock,  who  had  been  of  the  firm  of 
R.  Upjohn  &  Co.,  and  who  was  now  a  candidate  for  orders  and 
assisting  the  rector  in  the  educational  work  which  he  had 
undertaken.  Mr.  Babcock  was  ordained  in  the  college  chapel 
on  the  4th  of  March,  i860.  He  was  the  first  Professor  of 
Mathematics.  He  resigned  in  September,  1862,  and  is  now 
the  Professor  of  Architecture  in  Cornell  University.  The 
church  was  completed  and  consecrated  by  the  Rt.  Rev. 
Horatio  Potter,  D.D.,  February  2,  i860,  with  the  name  of 
the  Holy  Innocents.  It  is  the  college  chapel  with  seats 
reserved  for  the  college  and  the  families  of  the  professors. 
It  is  open  free  to  the  neighborhood  as  a  parish  church.  The 
chapel  was  the  gift  of  Mr.  John  Bard. 

It  was  announced  on  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the 
college,  that  the  value  of  the  building,  and   land,   and    the 


INSTITUTIONS   OF   LEARNING  AND   CHARITY.  413 

furniture  and  apparatus,  was  about  $175,000.  As  the  col- 
lege is  yet  without  endowment,  it  is  sustained  by  the  con- 
tributions of  Churchmen.  Among  the  most  liberal  contrib- 
utors have  been  the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Religion 
and  Learning,  Mr.  John  Bard,  Mr.  John  L.  Aspinwall,  Mrs. 
Aspinwall,  Mr.  William  H.  Aspinwall,  Mr.  Cyrus  Curtis,  the 
Rev.  G.  F.  Seymour,  the  Rt.  Rev.  H.  C.  Potter,  D.D.,  Hon. 
John  V.  L.  Pruyn,  LL.D.,  the  Rev.  J.  Ireland  Tucker,  D.D., 
the  Rev.  H.  C.  Potter,  D.D.,  Mr.  Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  Col. 
S.V.  L.  Cruger,  the  Rev.  C.  F.  Hoffman,  D.D.,  and  numerous 
others. 

The   first  warden  was  the   Rev.  G.  F.  Seymour,  now  the 
Rt.  Rev.  G.  F.Seymour,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  the  Bishop  of  Spring- 
field, who  was  also  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  History  in  the 
General  Theological  Seminary  as  well  as  dean  of  that  insti- 
tution.    The  second  warden  was  the  Rev.  Thomas  Richey, 
D.D.,    who    was  afterwards  the    Professor   of   Ecclesiastical 
History  in  the  Seabury  Divinity  School,  and  is  now  the  Pro- 
fessor in  that  department  in  the  General  Theological  Seminary. 
The   third    warden,    the    Rev.    Robert    B.  Fairbairn,  D.  D., 
LL.D.,  came  to  the  college  as  Professor  of  Mathematics  and 
Natural  Philosophy  on  October  23,  1862,  and  was  appointed 
to  the  wardenship  on  September  30,  1863.     He  is  the  author 
of  a  volume  of  College    Sermons.      The  Rev.  G.  B.  Hopson, 
M.A.,  was  appointed  the  Professor  of  Latin  on  October  5, 
1863.     He  stills  holds  this  professorship.     The  Rev.  Andrew 
Oliver,    D.D.,    was    appointed    the    Professor    of  Greek  and 
Hebrew  October,   1864.     He   resigned    in    September,  1873, 
when  he  accepted  the  appointment  to    the   Professorship  of 
Biblical    Learning   and    Interpretation    of    Scripture    in   the 
General  Theological  Seminary.     He  is  the  author  of  a  trans- 
lation of  the  Syriac  Psalter.     The  Rev.  Charles  T.  Olmsted, 
M.A.,  was  appointed  the  Professor  of  Mathematics,  July  12, 
1866,    which    he    resigned    in    October,    1868,    to  accept    an 
appointment   of  assistant  minister    in  Trinity  Church,  New 
York.     The  Rev.  Isaac  Van  Winkle  was  appointed  the  Pro- 
fessor of  Mathematics   in   July,  1869,  and  was  succeeded  by 
the  Rev.  William  W.  Olssen,  D.D.,  who  was  transferred  to 


414  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

the  Professorship  of  Greek  and  Hebrew  in  1873.  He  is  the 
author  of  Personality,  etc.,  and  of  Revelation,  Universal  and 
Special.  The  Rev.  L.  L.  Noble,  M.A.,  was  appointed  the 
Professor  of  English  and  History  in  1874.  He  was  the 
author  of  the  Life  of  Cole,  the  Artist ;  of  a  volume  of  Poems  ; 
and  of  a  Voyage  to  the  Arctic  Seas  in  search  of  Icebergs,  with 
Church,  the  Artist.     He  died  in  1882. 

James  Stryker,  a  graduate  of  the  college  in  1869,  was 
appointed  tutor,  and  afterwards  Assistant  Professor  of  Greek, 
and  has  been  the  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Natural 
Philosophy  since  1873.  Charles  N.  Foster,  an  A.B.  of  1869, 
was  tutor  and  afterwards  Professor  of  English  and  History. 
He  afterwards  graduated  M.D.  at  the  Louisville  Medical 
School,  and  is  now  a  practicing  physician. 

The  following  graduates  have  also  been  tutors :  The 
Rev.  Arthur  C.  Kimber,  A.M.,  B.D.,  John  S.  Moody,  B.A., 
the  Rev.  Scott  B.  Rathbun,  B.A.,  S.T.B.,  James  H.  Smith, 
B.A.,  and  the  Rev.  F.  E.  Shober,  M.A. 

Of  the  persons  who  have  graduated  B.A.,  or  have  received 
part  of  theirclassical  education  at  Annandale,  165  are  now  in 
Holy  Orders.  The  number  of  students  has  been  limited  by 
the  accommodations  or  the  number  of  scholarships,  which 
have  been  liberally  supplied  by  the  Society  for  Promoting  Re- 
ligion and  Learning.  There  are  now  nearly  seventy  students 
in  attendance,  besides  twenty  or  more  pursuing  their  theo- 
logical studies  at  the  General  Theological  Seminary  and  other 
divinity  schools. 

THE    PAROCHIAL    FUND    OF    THE    DIOCESE    OF 
NEW  YORK.     i860. 

The  trustees  of  the  Parochial  Fund  of  the  Diocese  of  New 
York  were  incorporated  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  passed  April  15,  i860,  and  amended 
April  22,  1867.  The  design  of  the  institution  was  to  procure 
the  establishment  of  a  large  endowment,  the  income  of  which 
should  be  available  for  use  in  the  relief  of  clergymen,  serving 
in  the  Diocese  of  New  York  with  stipends  too  scanty  for  sup- 
port.    It  was  proposed  that  this  relief  should  take  the  form 


INSTITUTIONS   OF   LEARNING  AND   CHARITY.  415 

either  of  addition  to  income  or  of  contribution  towards  the 
erection  of  parsonages  and  purchase  of  glebes.  Besides  the 
accomplishment  of  these  benefits,  with  such  funds  as  might 
be  committed  to  the  corporation  for  use  according  to  its  dis- 
cretion, it  was  proposed,  as  a  main  object  of  the  organization, 
that  it  should  act  as  trustee  for  the  care  of  such  funds  as 
might  be  given  to  it  in  special  trust  for  particular  parishes, 
and  thus  be  able  to  afford  to  those  who  might  desire  to  pro- 
vide a  permanent  endowment  for  the  benefit  of  a  parish  the 
means  of  doing  so  without  the  risks  attendant  upon  the 
entrusting  of  funds  to  the  charge  of  so  irresponsible  a  body- 
as  in  many  cases  the  vestry  of  a  parish  is. 

The  foundation  of  this  work  is  due  chiefly  to  the  Hon. 
John  Jay,  with  whom  were  associated  as  original  incorporators, 
Hon.  Murray  Hoffman,  Hon.  Luther  Bradish,  John  R.  Liv- 
ingston, Esq.,  Hon.  John  A.  Dix,  and  James  F.  DePeyster, 
Esq.  To  the  eminent  legal  ability  and  experience  of  those 
who  founded  and  organized  this  institution  is  to  be  attributed 
its  establishment  on  a  basis  calculated  to  attain  for  it  the  most 
extended  usefulness  and  the  greatest  security  for  the  due 
discharge  of  its  trusts. 

The  trustees  by  their  charter  are  entitled  to  receive  and 
hold  gifts,  bequests,  and  devises,  for  the  creation  and  accumu- 
lation of  a  fund,  the  annual  income  of  which  shall  not  exceed 
$30,000.  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  the  interest  of  the 
Church  in  this  institution  has  not  as  yet  led  to  the  establish- 
ment of  such  a  fund  as  the  needs  of  many  clergy  in  the 
diocese  require.  The  most  notable  accession  to  its  capital 
has  come  from  the  will  of  the  late  Commodore  Graham,  who 
bequeathed  to  it  the  sum  of  $30,000,  the  income  of  which  was 
directed  to  be  appropriated,  as  far  as  it  would  go,  to  the  bene- 
fit of  clergy  of  the  diocese  whose  salaries  did  not  exceed  $500 
per  annum.  At  the  last  report  the  fund  amounted  to  about 
$67,000,  the  greater  part  of  which,  however,  is  limited  as  to 
distribution  of  income  by  special  directions  of  the  donors. 
The  trustees  are  six  laymen,  with  the  bishop,  ex  officio.  The 
six  lay  trustees  are  elected  by  the  Convention  of  the  diocese, 
two  in  each  year,  to  hold  office  for  three  years,  and,  in  ac- 


416  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

cordance  with  the  charter,  the  trustees  report  annually  to  the 
Convention  of  the  diocese  and  to  the  Comptroller  of  the 
State.  The  present  members  of  the  corporation,  besides 
the  acting  bishop  of  the  diocese,  are  the  Hon.  John  Jay, 
president,  Mr.  William  Alexander  Smith,  treasurer,  and 
Messrs.  Carlisle  Norwood,  George  R.  Schiefflin,  Charles  A. 
Landon,  and  Cornelius  Vanderbilt. 

THE  SANDS  FUND.     1863. 

The  trustees  of  the  Sands  Fund  were  incorporated  by  an 
act  of  the  Legislature  of  New  York,  March  25,  1863.  The 
fund  was  created  by  will  of  the  late  Abraham  B.  Sands,  and  the 
incorporation  was  obtained  by  the  secretary  and  the  treasurer 
of  the  Convention  and  the  treasurer  of  the  Episcopal  Fund. 
The  fund  now  (1885)  amounts  to  $3,000,  the  interest  of  which 
is  paid  annually  to  the  bishop  of  the  diocese  for  the  benefit  of 
clergymen. 

THE  SHELTERING  ARMS.     1864. 

This  institution  was  founded  and  incorporated  in  October, 
1864.  The  articles  of  incorporation  were  signed  by  William  K. 
Kitchen,  William  Alexander  Smith,  J.  Punnett,  F.  L.  Win- 
ston, and  D.  T.  Brown.  The  object  had  in  view  was  and  is 
"the  establishing,  founding,  carrying  on,  and  managing  an 
asylum  for  the  reception  of  children  in  need  of  a  home."  The 
Sheltering  Arms  owns  twenty-seven  lots  in  one  parcel  on  the 
Tenth  Avenue,  129th  Street,  Broadway,  and  Lawrence  Street, 
and  has  a  lease  for  999  years  of  104  acres  of  land  at  Mount 
Minturn  in  Westchester  County.  On  the  first-named  piece  of 
land  are  eight  cottages.  Under  one  roof  are  five  cottages, 
four  for  families  of  children  and  one  for  the  central  purposes 
of- the  charity.  Three  of  them  bear  the  names  of  the  donors 
of  the  money  with  which  they  were  built,  viz. :  Mr.  John  D. 
Wolfe,  Mrs.  Peter  Cooper,  and  Mrs.  Mary  E.  C.  Van  Home. 
The  Little  May  Cottage,  a  separate  and  detached  house  for 
twenty  girls,  was  built  and  permanently  endowed  by  Mrs.  John 
Carey,  Jr.,  as  a  memorial  of  her  daughter,  Mary  Alida  Astor 
Carey.    The  sumof  $50,000  was  donated  to  the  trustees  for  this 


INSTITUTIONS   OF   LEARNING   AND   CHARITY.  417 

purpose.  The  Furniss  Cottage,  also  detached,  for  40  boys,  is 
dedicated  in  memory  of  Mrs.  William  P.  Furniss,  who,  in  her 
lifetime,  presented  $5,000  for  the  erection  of  a  cottage.  To 
this  sum,  her  daughter,  Miss  S.  C.  R.  Furniss,  added  $21,250.17 
to  erect  and  furnish  the  present  large  and  beautiful  cottage. 
The  same  liberal  giver  has  set  apart  $10,000  as  an  endowment 
fund.  The  eighth  cottage,  of  wood,  on  Lawrence  Street,  was 
bought  with  the  property,  and  is  set  apart  for  a  hospital,  with 
space  for  15  patients.  There  are  in  the  six  cottages  intended 
for  distinct  families  beds  for  190  children,  four  of  the  cottages 
being  for  120  girls  and  two  for  70  boys.  The  present  en- 
dowment fund  for  all  purposes  is  about  $95,000,  and  the 
property  of  the  institution  is  entirely  free  from  incumbrance. 

THE  SISTERHOOD  OF  ST.  MARY.     1865. 

The  Sisterhood  of  St.  Mary  was  founded  in  1865.  On  the 
Feast  of  the  Purification  of  that  year  the  first  sisters,  five  in 
number,  were  professed  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Horatio  Potter,  D.D., 
in  St.  Michael's  Church,  New  York.  The  community  now 
numbers  between  80  and  90,  but  11  of  these  have  entered 
into  rest.  The  "associates"  of  the  community,  who  are 
ladies  living  in  their  own  homes  and  aiding  the  sisters  in 
various  ways,  number  about  200. 

The  sisters  are  occupied  principally  in  the  Diocese  of  New 
York,  but  branch  houses  have  been  established  in  Tennessee 
and  Wisconsin.  The  order  in  which  the  different  works  were 
established  is  :  St.  Mary's  School,  New  York,  in  1868  ;  this  is 
a  boarding  and  day  school  for  girls,  with  accommodations  for 
30  boarders  and  125  day  scholars;  St.  Mary's  Hospital  for 
Children,  New  York,  with  accommodations  for  between  70 
and  80  children,  founded  in  1870;  St.  Gabriel's  School,  Peek- 
skill,  New  York,  with  accommodations  at  present  for  between 
50  and  60  boarding  pupils,  founded  in  1872;  St.  Mary's 
School,  Memphis,  Tenn.,  established  in  1873;  it  can  accom- 
modate the  same  number  of  pupils  as  St.  Mary's,  New  York. 
In  1882  the  Sea-side  Home  at  Rockaway  was  given  to  the 
sisters  as  an  adjunct  of  St.  Mary's  Hospital  for  Children. 

The  sisters  also  have  the  exclusive  care  of  the  following 
27 


41 8  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

diocesan  and  parish  institutions:  the  House  of  Mercy,  New 
York,  since  1865  ;  the  Church  Home,  Memphis,  Tennessee, 
since  1873;  Kemper  Hall,  a  diocesan  school  for  girls,  at 
Kenosha,  Wisconsin,  since  1879  >  an<^  in  Trinity  Parish,  New- 
York,  Trinity  Hospital,  Varick  Street  (since  its  foundation 
in  1874),  Trinity  Mission,  State  Street,  and  Trinity  Sea-side 
Home,  Islip,  Long  Island. 

THE  HOUSE  OF  THE  GOOD  SHEPHERD.     1886. 

The  House  of  the  Good  Shepherd  was  founded  in  1866 
by  the  Rev.  E.  Gay,  Jr.,  and  was  incorporated  in  1870.  It  is 
located  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Hudson  River,  about  forty  miles 
from  New  York  City,  at  Tomkins  Cove,  Rockland  County. 
The  special  work  with  which  it  is  charged  is  the  care  and 
education  of  orphan  and  destitute  children  and  missionary  ser- 
vice in  Rockland  County.  Its  property  consists  of  ninety 
acres  of  land  rising  from  the  river,  on  which  it  borders  for 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile.  A  portion  only,  some  fifteen  to 
twenty  acres,  has  been  cleared,  and  is  in  grass  or  under  cul- 
tivation. The  land  is  well  watered  by  a  brook  and  several 
springs.  From  the  house,  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet  above 
the  river,  an  extended  and  attractive  view  presents  itself,  and 
as  a  home  in  the  country  for  poor  children,  taken  out  of  the 
streets  and  tenement  houses  of  a  large  city,  it  is  unrivaled. 
In  its  beginning,  this  charity  was  small  and  unimportant.  As 
far  back  as  1865,  several  destitute  children  in  Trinity  Parish, 
Haverstraw,  were  bequeathed  to  the  care  of  the  rector  of  the 
parish.  Soon  after  other  children  were  found  to  need  similar 
care  and  support,  and  several  noble-hearted  and  devoted 
Church  women  interested  themselves  in  the  effort  to  meet  the 
necessities  of  the  case.  A  house  was  taken,  and  the  children 
gathered  under  a  sheltering  roof,  and  in  the  course  of  five  or 
six  years,  through  gifts  and  offerings,  a  family  of  twenty  and 
more  little  ones  was  fed,  clothed,  and  taught.  A  Board  of 
Managers  was  incorporated  in  1870;  kind  friends  came  for- 
ward to  help,  and  the  Legislature  of  the  State  was  induced  to 
make  a  liberal  appropriation  in  behalf  of  the  work.  By  de- 
grees several  buildings,  for  the  uses  of  the  charity,  and  for 


INSTITUTIONS   OF   LEARNING   AND   CHARITY.  419 

missionary  purposes,  were  erected  :  "  The  House,"  in  1871  ; 
"The  Beehive,"  in  1872;  "The  Hospital,"  in  1872-3;  "The 
Riverside  "  (purchased),  in  1872  ;  "  The  Rectory,"  in  1880-1, 
and  "  The  House  of  Prayer,"  in  1881-2.  The  corner-stone  of 
the  "  Church  of  the  Holy  Child  Jesus"  was  laid  in  June,  1871. 
The  foundations  and  basement  walls  are  built,  and  stone  col- 
lected. There  is  no  debt  incurred.  The  building  fund  is  in- 
creasing slowly,  but,  at  this  date  (1885),  some  $3,000  are 
needed  to  complete  the  edifice.  Since  the  opening  of  the 
house,  there  have  been  cared  for  under  its  roof  some  45 
children,  on  an  average,  from  year  to  year.  The  present 
number  is  30.  Some  make  a  longer,  some  a  shorter  stay. 
The  children  have  here  a  Christian  home,  in  which  they  are 
trained  for  usefulness  in  life,  and  towards  which  in  later  years 
they  entertain  feelings  of  sincere  affection  and  lasting  obliga- 
tion. The  missionary  work  in  the  vicinity  of  the  House  of 
the  Good  Shepherd  is,  in  substance,  as  follows  :  There  are 
five  stations.  1.  The  chapel  of  the  house,  full  services 
through  the  year ;  Sunday-school,  100  scholars  and  6  teach- 
ers. 2.  The  House  of  Prayer,  at  Caldwell's,  services  on 
Sundays,  in  afternoon ;  Sunday-school,  45  scholars  and  5 
teachers;  Tuesday,  service  and  lecture.  3.  Grace  Church 
(about  a  mile  south  of  the  house),  service  and  sermon  on 
Sunday,  in  afternoon  ;  on  Wednesday  and  Friday  afternoons, 
service  and  lecture.  4.  Montville,  occasional  services.  5.  At 
various  points  in  the  mountains,  occasional  services.  In  con- 
nection with  these  latter,  it  is  proper  to  state  that  about  ten 
miles  distant  and  in  the  woods,  mission  services  were  begun 
among  the  simple  people  there,  who  earn  a  scanty  livelihood 
by  making  baskets.  This  was  in  October,  1879.  A  congre- 
gation was  gathered,  and  a  log  cabin  served  as  a  place  for  a 
school  and  public  worship.  Through  the  generosity  of  a 
New  York  lady,  Mrs.  Margaret  E.  Zimmerman,  a  handsome 
stone  church  and  a  school-house  have  been  erected  for  the 
spiritual  good  of  these  mountaineers.  It  is  entitled  "  The 
Mission  Church  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  in  memoriam  of 
John  Edward  Zimmerman."  It  was  opened  for  divine  ser- 
vice   November    15,    1880,  and  will  seat  200  people.      The 


420  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

House  of  the  Good  Shepherd  depends  for  its  support  and 
continuance  upon  the  gifts  and  offerings  of  the  benevolent 
and  charitable  members  of  Christ's  body,  the  Church. 

HOME  FOR  INCURABLES,  FORDHAM,  1866. 

The  Home  for  Incurables  was  founded  in  April,  1866,  by 
a  board  of  clerical  and  lay  managers  of  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal churches  in  New  York  city,  and  was  incorporated  the 
same  year.  Its  special  work  is  to  care  for  the  incurably  sick, 
and  to  furnish  a  "  home"  for  its  inmates,  who,  unlike  those 
of  an  ordinary  hospital,  are  afflicted  with  diseases  pronounced 
incurable,  and  who  consequently  will,  in  many  instances,  re- 
main objects  of  its  nursing  care  for  life.  The  institution  is 
located  at  Fordham,  in  the  twenty-fourth  ward,  New  York 
City.  The  property  was  purchased  by  Miss  C.  L.  Wolfe,  and 
donated  to  the  institution  in  memory  of  her  father.  Its 
buildings  were  erected  by  the  contributions  of  friends  of  the 
charity,  the  last  structure  being  a  chapel,  excellently  built 
and  furnished,  through  the  generous  gift  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ben- 
jamin H.  Field,  of  New  York  City.  The  "  home"  needs  ad- 
ditional buildings,  and  hopes  ere  long  to  secure  them,  and 
thus  accommodate  many  applicants  who  are  now  turned 
away  for  lack  of  room  and  means.  A  payment  of  $5,000 
endows  a  free  bed  in  perpetuity,  and  a  payment  of  $2,000  a 
free  bed  during  the  life  of  the  donor. 

THE  MIDNIGHT  MISSION  IN  THE  CITY  OF  NEW 

YORK,  1867. 

This  institution  was  founded  in  1867,  under  the  auspices 
of  the  New  York  Protestant  Episcopal  City  Mission  Society. 
A  meeting  of  Church  people  was  held  in  Trinity  Chapel 
Sunday-school  room,  on  the  evening  of  January  21,  1867,  at 
which  the  bishop  of  the  diocese  presided,  and  spoke  in  en- 
couragement of  the  object  had  in  view  by  the  proposed 
society,  viz.  :  to  lessen  the  obstacles  to  the  return  of  fallen 
women  to  a  virtuous  life,  and  to  encourage  their  reform, 
chiefly  through  the  loving  kindness  and  sympathy  shown  by 
Christian  women  towards  them.     The  Rev.  Drs.  Montgomery 


INSTITUTIONS   OF   LEARNING   AND   CHARITY.  42 1 

and  Tuttle,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hilliard,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop 
Randall,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Dix,  followed  briefly,  commend- 
ing the  undertaking.  A  society  was  at  once  formed,  under 
the  name  of  "  The  Midnight  Mission,"  mostly  composed 
of  members  of  the  executive  committee  of  the  City  Mission 
Society  and  of  the  St.  Barnabas'  Men's  Missionary  Associa- 
tion. A  ladies'  committee,  under  the  presidency  of  Mrs.  A. 
Tyler,  was  also  promptly  organized,  and  by  faithful,  self- 
denying  work  made  the  idea  of  the  mission  a  reality.  The 
institution  was  incorporated  by  the  Legislature  of  the  State, 
July  7,  1868.  It  owns  its  "home,"  No.  260  Greene  Steeet, 
which  is  built  on  a  Sailors'  Snug  Harbor  lease,  and  is  free  from 
debt.  The  conduct  of  the  "  home  "  is  now  in  charge  of  the 
Sisterhood  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  and  its  capacity  (for 
about  forty  inmates)  is  too  limited  for  the  number  applying 
for  admission.  There  is,  however,  a  fair  prospect  that  the 
mission  may  soon  obtain,  what  has  always  been  much  de- 
sired, a  house  in  the  country,  where,  removed  from  the  dis- 
tractions and  temptations  of  the  city,  women  may  be  sent 
who  manifest  a  sincere  penitence,  a  desire  to  reform,  and  a 
resolute  purpose  henceforth  to  lead  godly  and  Christian  lives. 

THE  SOCIETY  FOR  THE  RELIEF  OF  THE  DES- 
TITUTE BLIND  OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK 
AND  ITS  VICINITY.     1868. 

This  institution  was  founded  in  1868,  by  the  Rev.  East- 
burn  Benjamin,  since  deceased.  The  work  which  it  took  in 
hand  was  to  provide  a  home  for  indigent  blind  people,  of 
whom  there  is  a  large  number  in  the  city  of  New  York  un- 
cared  for.  The  Home  was  opened  at  first  in  the  Second 
Avenue  ;  then  it  was  removed  to  the  Seventh  Avenue  ;  after- 
wards, and  up  to  date  (1885),  it  occupies  for  its  Home,  No. 
219  West  Fourteenth  Street,  which  is  the  property  of  the 
society.  The  average  number  of  its  inmates  has  been  about 
40.  The  new  house,  which  is  now  in  course  of  erection  on 
the  Tenth  Avenue,  corner  of  One  Hundred  and  Fourth 
Street,  will  accommodate  100  or  more  persons.  It  is  ex- 
pected that  the  society  will  be  able  to  remove  to  its  new 
building  in  May,  1886. 


422  CENTENNIAL  CHURCH   HISTORY. 

THE  SHEPHERD'S  FOLD  OF  THE  PROTESTANT 
EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  IN  THE  STATE  OF  NEW 
YORK,     i! 


This  institution  was  founded  and  incorporated  by  the 
Legislature  in  March,  1868,  the  certificate  being  signed  by 
W.  Rhinelander,  Abbott  Brown,  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  Jr.,  John 
Cotton  Smith,  William  T.  Sabine  and  Edward  Cowley.  The 
particular  business  and  objects  of  the  society  are  :  "  the  re- 
ceiving and  adopting  children  and  youths  of  both  sexes,  be- 
tween the  ages  of  twelve  months  and  fifteen  years,  who  are 
orphans,  half-orphans,  or  otherwise  friendless  ;  these  to  keep, 
support  and  educate,  apprentice,  and  place  out  to  service, 
trades,  and  schools  ;  also  to  receive  such  children  of  poor 
clergymen  deemed  eligible,  and  who  shall  be  approved  by 
the  trustees  of  the  Shepherd's  Fold,  and  to  receive  other 
children  and  youths  for  education  and  training,  to  such  ex- 
tent as,  in  the  judgment  of  the  trustees,  may  be  expedient." 
The  building  formerly  occupied  and  owned  by  the  society 
on  East  Eighty-sixth  Street  was  sold  some  years  ago,  and 
active  operations  were  for  a  time  suspended.  There  is  a  Build- 
ing Fund  of  about  $10,000,  to  which  additions  are  made  from 
year  to  year.  The  present  head-quarters  are  in  a  hired  house 
on  the  Tenth  Avenue,  containing  24  boys.  Other  build- 
ings have  been  hired  for  the  accommodation  of  children,  of 
whom  there  are  at  present  60,  under  the  care  of  the 
charity. 

THE   SISTERHOOD  OF  THE  GOOD  SHEPHERD. 

1869. 

This  association  was  founded  on  the  second  Tuesday 
after  Easter,  April  6,  1869,  in  St.  Ann's  Church,  New  York, 
by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Horatio  Potter,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.,  Bishop 
of  New  York.  The  nature  and  object  of  its  work  are:  "  to 
minister  to  the  poor,  the  sick,  the  homeless  and  the  outcast, 
and  to  care  for  little  children."  The  House  of  the  Good 
Shepherd,  for  the  use  of  this  association,  was  erected  in  1878, 
in  Asbury  Park,  New  Jersey,  upon  land  given  by  Mr.  James 


INSTITUTIONS   OF   LEARNING  AND   CHARITY.  423 

A.  Bradley,  by  donations  of  friends  of  the  sisters.  It  is  used 
as  a  place  of  needed  recreation  for  the  poor  during  the 
summer.  The  house  No.  191  Ninth  Avenue,  New  York,  has 
been  rented  by  a  friend,  for  the  Sisters'  House  and  the  Train- 
ing School  for  Girls.  The  sisterhood  is  in  charge  of  St. 
Barnabas'  House,  New  York,  and  visits  various  public  institu- 
tions. It  is  also  in  charge  of  Christ  Hospital,  Jersey  City, 
and  St.  James'  Parish  Home  and  Day  School,  Wilmington, 
North  Carolina.  The  Bishop  of  New  York  is  the  head  of 
this  sisterhood,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Gallaudet  the  pastor,  and  Sister 
Ellen  the  presiding  sister. 

THE  HOUSE  OF  REST  FOR  CONSUMPTIVES.     1869. 

This  institution  was  founded  in  1869,  and  incorporated 
October  7,  1869,  by  Theodore  S.  Rumney,  Edward  Haight, 
W.  C.  Wetmore,  Alexander  M.  Stanton  and  H.  J.  Cammann. 
The  special  work  of  the  institution  is  the  care  and  relief  of 
consumptive  patients,  these  being  chiefly  among  the  poor  and 
those  in  very  straitened  circumstances.  The  patients,  as  a 
rule,  are  entirely  destitute,  having  consumed  past  savings  in 
long  illness  at  home,  and  coming  to  the  house  when  the 
purse  has  given  out.  The  door  of  this  house  is  always  open 
to  the  desolate  and  poor,  and  him  that  hath  no  helper. 
This  institution  owns  an  acre  of  ground  and  buildings 
thereupon,  with  accommodations  for  40  patients.  The 
property  is  situated  at  Mount  Hope,  Tremont,  New  York, 
and  is  free  from  debt,  and  the  endowment  fund  amounts 
to  $30,683.47.  The  house  needs  additional  funds  and  in- 
creased liberal  gifts,  in  order  to  carry  out  the  charitable  pur- 
poses of  the  officers,  the  Board  of  Trustees  and  the  Ladies' 
Association. 

ST.    MARY'S    FREE    HOSPITAL    FOR   CHILDREN. 

1870. 

This  free  hospital  was  founded  in  September,  1870,  by 
the  Sisters  of  St.  Mary.  Its  specific  work  is  to  furnish  med- 
ical and  surgical  treatment  for  children  between  the  ages  of 
two  and  fourteen  years.     The  hospital  building  is  located  at 


424  CENTENNIAL  CHURCH    HISTORY. 

Nos.  405,  407  and  409  West  Thirty-fourth  Street,  New- 
York.  It  was  erected  in  1880,  has  all  the  modern  improve- 
ments, accommodates  70  patients,  and  has  connected  with 
it  a  dispensary,  which  is  open  daily.  The  institution  has 
also-  a  summer  branch  at  Rockaway  Beach,  Long  Island, 
to  which  most  of  the  patients  are  removed  in  June,  and  re- 
main through  the  summer  months.  Eighteen  of  the  beds  are 
endowed  by  the  payment  of  $3,000  each,  and  ten  are  sup- 
ported each  year  by  the  payment  of  $200. 

THE  CHILDREN'S  FOLD.     1871. 

The  Children's  Fold  was  incorporated  by  the  Legislature 
of  New  York,  in  the  year  1871.  The  certificate  of  incorpora- 
tion was  signed  by  Edward  Cowley,  H.  D.  Wyman,  William 
R.  Gardner,  Elias  J.  Pattison,  James  Pott,  Mrs.  George  De- 
pew,  and  Mrs.  S.  M.  G.  Cowley.  The  object  of  the  Fold,  as 
stated  in  the  certificate,  is  "the  receiving  and  adopting  chil- 
dren and  youth  of  both  sexes,  between  the  ages  of  twelve 
months  and  twelve  years,  who  are  orphans  or  half-orphans, 
or  otherwise  destitute,  always  giving  preference  to  those 
coming  from  the  institutions  on  the  islands  of  the  city  of 
New  York;  these  to  keep,  support  and  educate,  or  appren- 
tice and  place  out  to  service  and  trades  ;  also,  to  receive  such 
other  children  and  youth  for  training  and  education  as,  in  the 
judgment  of  the  managers,  maybe  deemed  expedient."  The 
Fold  has  always  thus  far  been  gathered  in  houses  hired  by 
the  managers  for  the  purpose.  Its  present  location  is  in 
Broadway  and  Ninety-third  Street.  The  number  of  children 
under  its  care  at  date  (1885)  is  160. 

HOME  FOR  OLD  MEN  AND  AGED  COUPLES.     1872. 

This  institution  was  founded  in  October,  1872,  and  was 
incorporated  by  the  Legislature  of  New  York  December  14th 
of  the  same  year.  The  persons  named  in  the  certificate  as 
trustees  were  the  Rev.  Isaac  H.  Tuttle,  D.D.,  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Gallaudet,  D.D.,  the  Rev.  Morgan  Dix,  D.D., 
Thomas  P.  Cummings,  Lloyd  W.  Wells,  William  Alexander 
Smith,  Isaac  C.  Kendall,  Anthony  B.  McDonald,  Charles  H. 


INSTITUTIONS  OF   LEARNING   AND   CHARITY.  425 

Clayton,  William  Niblo,  Henry  K.  Bogert,  Francis  Pott, 
William  A.  Duncan,  David  Pell  Secor,  and  Albert  G.  Thorp, 
Jr.  The  nature  of  the  work  of  this  institution  is  the  caring 
for  the  old  people  placed  in  it,  and  a  peculiar  feature  is  that 
old  couples  are  not  forced  apart,  but  are  enabled  to  live  out 
their  lives  together.  Over  seventy  persons  have  been  taken 
care  of  so  far,  and  nearly  all  of  them  have  been  persons  of 
refinement  and  education.  Among  them  have  been  clergy- 
men, doctors,  lawyers  and  merchants,  who  formerly  were 
quite  wealthy.  These  people  certainly  must  suffer  much 
when  exposed  to  extreme  poverty,  and  to  hardships  to  which 
they  have  been  so  utterly  unaccustomed,  and  to  them  the 
Home  has  been  opened  in  preference  to  others.  The  build- 
ing now  occupied  (1885)  for  the  institution  is  No.  487  Hudson 
Street,  adjoining  St.  Luke's  Church.  This  has  been  hired, 
but  recently  a  plot  of  thirteen  lots  was  purchased  on  Morn- 
ingside  Avenue,  extending  from  One  Hundred  and  Thirteenth 
to  One  Hundred  and  Fourteenth  Street.  The  trustees,  how- 
ever, have  not  begun  to  build  as  yet,  there  not  being  sufficient 
funds  in  hand  to  authorize  such  action.  As  a  matter  of  gen- 
eral interest  the  following  facts  deserve  to  be  put  on  record : 
In  the  autumn  of  1872  a  layman  who  was  connected  with  a 
number  of  Church  institutions  was  called  upon  by  an  "  old 
man  " — a  vestryman  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Evangelists, 
in  Vandewater  Street,  Rev.  Benjamin  Evans,  rector,  to  ask 
for  himself  and  wife  help  towards  getting  into  a  Church 
institution,  as  they  were  without  means  and  unable  to  earn  a 
living.  The  layman  gave  him  a  letter  to  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Muhlenberg,  hoping  the  persons  applying  might  find  a  rest- 
ing-place at  Saint  Johnland.  Dr.  M.  received  the  old  man 
very  kindly,  and  said  that  he  could  provide  for  him  at  the 
"  Old  Man's  Inn,"  but  that  there  was  no  place  for  his  wife. 
The  layman,  on  inquiry,  found  that  there  was  no  institution 
in  the  Church  where  a  man  and  wife  could  be  taken  care  of. 
He  thereupon  made  up  his  mind  that  such  a  state  of  things 
ought  not  any  longer  to  exist.  He  called  on  Bishop  Potter, 
the  Rev.  Drs.  Tuttle,  Gallaudet  and  Dix,  and  several  laymen 
of  the  Church— among  them   Messrs.   Niblo,  Lloyd  Wells, 


426  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

A.  B.  McDonald,  Clayton,  Kendall  (now  deceased),  with 
others — and  all  favoring  the  project,  arrangements  were  made 
for  a  meeting  to  be  held  in  St.  Ann's  Church,  Eighteenth 
Street,  on  October  16,  1872.  The  meeting  was  held  in  the 
morning,  and  the  "  Home  for  Old  Men  and  Aged  Couples" 
was  duly  organized.  The  vacant  building  on  Hudson  Street, 
adjoining  St.  Luke's  Church  (and  recently  vacated  by  removal 
of  "  St-  Luke's  Home  for  Indigent  Christian  Females  "  to  the 
new  quarters  on  Eighty-ninth  Street),  was  leased  and  opened 
for  the  reception  of  the  "  old  couples "  and  others.  The 
officers  of  the  Home  are  the  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Horatio 
Potter,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.,  president ;  the  Rev.  Isaac  H. 
Tuttle,  D.D.,  vice-president ;  Henry  Lewis  Morris,  secretary, 
and  Hermann  H.  Cammann,  treasurer. 

THE   CHURCH    MISSION  TO  DEAF  MUTES.     1872. 

This  mission  was  founded  in  October,  1872,  by  the  Rt. 
Rev.  Horatio  Potter,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.,  and  a  number  of 
clergy  and  laity  of  New  York,  at  the  urgency  of  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Gallaudet,  D.D.,  who  was  appointed  general  man- 
ager. The  special  work  which  the  mission  has  in  hand  is 
"  to  promote  the  temporal  and  spiritual  welfare  of  adult  deaf 
mutes."  For  twelve  years  past  the  mission  or  society  has 
maintained  a  home  for  aged  and  infirm  deaf  mutes,  at  No. 
220  East  Thirteenth  Street,  a  hired  house.  Recently,  how- 
ever, it  has  purchased  a  farm  of  156  acres,  with  suitable 
buildings,  on  the  Hudson  River,  six  miles  below  Poughkeep- 
sie,  to  be  occupied  as  a  permanent  home  for  deaf  mutes. 

THE  ST.  JOHN  BAPTIST  FOUNDATION.     1874. 

The  present  community  was  founded  February  5,  1874, 
by  Helen  Stuyvesant  Folsom,  with  the  purpose  of  establish- 
ing a  branch  of  the  Community  of  St.  John  the  Baptist  in 
America.  The  lines  of  work  of  the  Community  of  St.  John 
the  Baptist  are  :  1.  The  restoration  of  fallen  women  who  are 
either  prepared  to  return  to  the  world  to  live  in  it  more  faith- 
fully, or  else  to  remain  secluded  under  religious  rules,  if, 
after  due  probation,  they  are    found    fitted  thus  to  devote 


INSTITUTIONS   OF   LEARNING   AND   CHARITY.  427 

themselves.  2.  The  instruction  and  training  of  orphans  and 
other  children.  3.  The  care  of  the  sick  and  infirm.  4.  Mis- 
sion work  amongst  the  poor.  The  Community  in  New  York 
was  incorporated  by  the  Legislature  of  the  State  in  the 
spring  of  1876.  In  1881  it  was  affiliated,  and  its  government 
became  independent.  The  present  St.  John  Baptist  House, 
No.  233  East  Seventeenth  Street,  New  York  City,  was  built 
in  1878,  to  be  the  mother  house  of  the  Community  in  the 
United  States.  A  Church  work-room  for  ecclesiastical  em- 
broidery is  carried  on  in  the  house,  and  some  of  the  sisters  are 
largely  engaged  in  active  work  amongst  the  sick  and  poor  in 
Holy  Cross  Mission.  A  new  school-house  for  young  ladies 
was  built  in  1884,  adjoining  the  mother  house.  It  is  called 
St.  John  Baptist  School,  and  will  accommodate  about  thirty 
pupils.  The  present  is  believed  to  be  the  first  Religious  House 
built  for  the  express  purpose  in  the  American  Branch  of  the 
Church  Catholic.  The  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  of  New  York 
is  visitor,  and  the  Rev.  G.  H.  Houghton,  D.D.,  is  warden. 

HOUSE     OF     THE      HOLY     COMFORTER,     FREE 
CHURCH  HOME  FOR  INCURABLES.     1879. 

This  institution  was  founded  by  Sister  Louise,  September 
15,  1879,  and  was  carried  on  under  her  charge  till  her  death, 
March  29,  1883.  Experience  acquired  by  her  in  visiting 
and  ministering  to  the  poor  of  the  city,  had  "  revealed  a 
peculiar  and  pressing  demand  of  suffering,  in  the  form  of 
incurable  diseases  among  the  respectable  sick  poor."  Having 
obtained  the  approval  and  authorization  of  the  bishop  of  the 
diocese,  the  home  was  opened,  at  No.  18  East  Eleventh 
Street,  with  one  patient,  the  avowed  object  being  not  merely 
to  establish  a  hospital,  but  to  make  it  a  thoroughly  Christian 
home  for  sufferers.  The  House  of  the  Holy  Comforter  be- 
came a  legal  corporation  under  the  State  law,  June  10,  1880, 
with  nine  trustees,  and  the  bishop  of  the  diocese  as  visitor. 
The  objects  of  the  society  were  thus  defined  :  "  1.  The 
establishment  of  a  free  home  for  incurables  among  Protestant 
women  and  female  children  of  the  better  class,  who  are  with- 
out means,  or  friends  able  to  support  and  care  for  them,  and 


428  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

who  are,  upon  examination  of  the  house  physician,  pro- 
nounced as  suffering  from  an  incurable  disease,  and  cannot  be 
received  into  hospitals  and  homes  for  the  young  and  aged. 
2.  Also  of  a  training  school  in  connection  with  such  home, 
for  the  reception  of  Protestant  girls  from  the  ages  of  nine  to 
fourteen  years,  retaining  its  care  of  them  until  they  are  eighteen 
years  of  age,  and  giving  them  a  spiritual  and  secular  education, 
together  with  a  thorough  training  in  all  domestic  and  useful 
duties."  Without  a  suitable  home,  or  any  endowment  beyond 
a  small  sum  devoted  to  a  specified  object,  the  institution  has 
yet  been  enabled  to  do  a  large  amount  of  good,  and  to  relieve 
an  untold  extent  of  suffering.  It  provides  for  35  or  36 
patients,  and  has  ministered  to  125  in  all.  Of  course,  all  who 
enter  it  expect  to  remain  there  through  life,  and  some  have 
been  inmates  ever  since  its  foundation,  while  others  have  re- 
covered sufficiently  to  leave,  and  resume  their  usual  avocations. 
Its  object  and  the  work  it  has  done,  and  is  doing,  give  it  a 
claim  for  aid  from  the  charitable  and  benevolent,  whose  alms 
and  gifts  are  its  sole  dependence,  under  God.  The  hospital 
work  is  carried  on  by  the  Sisters  of  the  Community  of  St. 
John  the  Baptist,  under  a  board  of  trustees,  of  which  the 
Rev.  George  H.  Houghton,  D.D.,  is  the  president.  A 
"  Ladies  Association,"  of  twenty-four  members,  of  which 
Mrs.  J.  C.  O'Connor,  Jr.,  is  treasurer,  and  Mrs.  S.  K.  Walton 
secretary,  takes  an  active  part  in  providing  for  the  support 
of  the  home.  The  duties  of  house  chaplain  are  performed 
by  the  Rev.  M.  Van  Rensselaer,  D.D. 

SOCIETY  OF  ST.  MARTHA.     1881. 

This  society  was  founded  December  19,  1881,  by  a  benev- 
olent lady  and  communicant  in  the  Church  in  New  York. 
The  special  object  of  the  society  is  both  to  protect  children 
and  young  girls,  and  also  to  give  them  suitable  training  in 
manual  labor,  cooking,  laundry  work,  housework,  sewing,  and 
embroidery.  The  society  occupies  at  present  the  house,  60 
South  Washington  Square,  New  York  City,  but  expects  early 
in  the  year  1886  to  remove  to  a  more  eligible  location  in 
Twenty-second  Street.     The    number   of  inmates   is   about 


INSTITUTIONS   OF   LEARNING  AND   CHARITY.  429 

twenty.  The  house  mother  is  Miss  J.  E.  Faitoute  ;  the  pres- 
ident of  the  society  is  the  Rev.  Geo.  H.  Houghton,  D.D., 
and  the  secretary  and  treasurer  is  Charles  W.  Kent. 

YONKERS  NURSERY  AND  HOME.     1881. 

This  institution  was  founded  in  January,  1881,  by  the 
rector  and  a  few  ladies  of  St.  Paul's  Parish,  Yonkers,  New 
York.  It  was  incorporated  by  the  Legislature  of  the  State  in 
May,  1884.  Its  chief  purpose  is  to  provide  a  temporary 
home  for  homeless  children,  under  eight  years  of  age,  and  a 
home  for  old  women.  On  the  first  of  May,  i88i,the  present 
house,  No.  176  Palisade  Avenue,  was  rented.  In  May,  1884, 
the  trustees  purchased  the  property  consisting  of  the  house  and 
the  lot  on  which  it  stands,  and  two  adjoining  lots.  The  cost 
of  this  property  was  $7,500,  of  which  $2,500  were  paid, 
leaving  a  mortgage  of  $5,000.  During  the  summer  of  1885 
an  addition  was  made  to  the  house,  costing  $1,000,  which 
has  been  paid.  A  board  of  trustees,  consisting  of  nine 
persons,  members  of  St.  Paul's  Parish,  have  full  control  of  all 
the  affairs  of  this  corporation.  A  board  of  managers,  con- 
sisting of  fifteen  ladies,  have  the  full  charge  of  the  domestic 
affairs  of  the  nursery  and  home.  There  were  in  the  institu- 
tion during  1885  twenty-five  children,  and  two  old  women. 
The  present  officers  of  the  corporation  are  :  The  Rev.  W.  H. 
Mills,  D.D.,  president  ;  E.  M.  Le  Moyne,  secretary,  and  C.  W. 
Seymour,  treasurer. 


CHURCH  LITERATURE  OF  THE  CENTURY. 


CHURCH  LITERATURE  OFTHE  CENTURY. 

It  has  been  thought  desirable  to  have  some  account  given 
of  the  scholars  and  authors  who  have  lived  and  labored,  or 
are  living  and  laboring,  in  the  Diocese  of  New  York,  and 
whose  published  works  furnish  evidence  of  the  progress  of 
good  letters  during  the  century  just  past.  At  the  request  of 
the  editor  of  the  present  memorial  volume,  the  following 
paper  has  been  prepared.  Without  claiming  for  it  anything 
like  an  exhaustive  treatment  of  the  large  and  interesting  field 
of  Church  literature  since  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  it  is  hoped  that  the  record  here  presented  will  not 
be  deemed  wholly  without  profit  or  value  to  Church  people. 
For  the  literature  of  the  Church  at  large,  during  the  same 
period,  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Ward's  monograph,  in  Bishop  Perry's 
History  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church,  may  be  con- 
sulted with  advantage.  The  sketch  here  given  is  limited,  of 
course,  to  those  identified  with  the  Church  in  New  York, 
including  those  who,  for  a  longer  or  shorter  portion  of  their 
careers,  were  connected  with  the  Diocese  of  New  York. 
Beginning  with  the  bishops,  as  is  proper,  we  note  that  Bishop 
Provoost,  though  an  accomplished  scholar,  did  not  see  fit  to 
put  anything  of  his  into  print.  The  second  Bishop  of  New 
York,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Benjamin  Moore  D.D.,  was  educated  at 
King's  (now  Columbia)  College,  and  was  president  of  that 
institution  from  1801-1811.  He  was  regarded  as  an  excellent 
preacher,  and  published  a  number  of  occasional  sermons,  and 
also  put  forth  a  pamphlet  defending  the  Church  against  some 
Presbyterian  strictures.  After  his  death,  two  volumes  of 
Discourses  were  given  to  the  world  by  his  son,  Clement  C. 
Moore,  LL.D.  (8vo,  1824);  these  have  obtained  high  praise 
from  competent  critics.  The  Rt.  Rev.  John  Henry  Hobart, 
D.D.,  third  Bishop  of  New  York,  was  not  only  the  most 
energetic  and  active  bishop  in  the  Church  in  his  day,  but  was 
28 


434  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

also  unflagging  in  the  use  of  the  pen.  He  began  at  the  com- 
paratively early  age  of  twenty-eight,  and  as  he  was  an  entire 
believer  in  the  Apostolic  position  and  rightful  claims  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  as  well  as  thoroughly  honest  in 
purpose  and  conviction  of  duty,  he  devoted  himself  chiefly  to 
the  setting  forth  of  the  true  place  of  the  Church  in  the  United 
States,  and  defending  it  against  all  opponents.  Dr.  Sprague, 
in  his  Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit  (v.,  447-50),  gives  a 
full  and  complete  list  of  the  works  of  which  Bishop  Hobart 
was  the  author,  compiler,  or  editor  ;  among  these  it  is  suffi- 
cient here  to  name,  The  Companion  to  the  Altar  (1804);  The 
Companion  to  the  Festivals  and  Fasts  (1805)  ;  The  Clergyman's 
Companion  (1806)  ;  Apology  for  Apostolic  Order  and  its  Advo- 
cates (8vo,  1807)  ;  The  Christian  s  Manual  of  Faith  and 
Devotion  (1814)  ;  Fimeral  Address  at  the  Interment  of  Bishop 
Moore,  with  an  Appendix  on  the  Place  of  Departed  Spirits,  and 
the  Descent  of  Christ  into  Hell  (1816) ;  The  Corruptions  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  Contrasted  with  Certain  Protestant  Errors 
( 1 8 1 7)  ;  D'  Oyly  and  Manfs  Commentary  on  the  Bible  (181 8-23)  ; 
Sermons  on  the  Principal  Events  and  Truths  of  Redemption  (2 
vols.,  8vo,  1824);  The  High  Churchman  Vindicated,  a  charge 
to  the  clergy  (1826).  Bishop  Hobart's  posthumous  works, 
with  a  memoir  by  Rev.  Dr.  Berrian,  were  published  in  1833 
(3  vols.,  8vo).  As  Bishop  Hobart  wrote  rapidly  and  under 
strong  impulses  usually,  his  style  is  open  to  criticism  for  lack 
of  polish,  etc.  (as  has  been  noted,  p.  153,  ante). 

The  fifth  Bishop  of  New  York,  the  Rt.  Rev.  J.  M.  Wain- 
wright,  D.D.,  D.C.L.,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College,  and 
facile  in  the  use  of  the  pen,  published  a  number  of  sermons, 
preached  on  special  occasions,  between  1828  and  1835.  His 
controversy  with  Dr.  Potts,  as  to  whether  there  can  be  a 
church  without  a  bishop,  was  carried  on  through  the  New 
York  press  in  1844,  and  shortly  afterwards  was  published  in 
pamphlet  form.  Dr.  Wainwright's  part  was  very  ably  sus- 
tained, and  the  cause  of  the  Church  gained  favor  with  the 
intelligent  reading  public.  He  published  Family  Prayers, 
in  1845  and  1850,  which  are  much  esteemed  by  those  who 
have  proved  their  value  by  daily  use.     In  1850  he  brought 


CHURCH   LITERATURE   OF  THE   CENTURY.  435 

out   Pathways   and  Abiding  Places  of  Our   Saviour,   being 
an  account   of  travels  in  the   Holy  Land   (1850),  and    The 
Land  of  Bondage   (185 1).     He  also  edited  the  Memoirs  and 
Sermons    of   Bishop    Ravenscroft    of   North    Carolina,    and 
The  Life  of  Bishop  Heber,  carrying  the  latter  through   the 
press  for  Mrs.  Heber's  benefit.    A  volume  of  sermons  selected 
from    his    manuscripts    was    published    under   the    Rev.   Dr. 
Higbee's   care    the   year  after  his  decease.     The    Rt.   Rev. 
Horatio  Potter,  D.D.,  D.C.L.,  sixth  Bishop  of  New  York,  has 
made   contributions   to    Church    literature    by    publishing   a 
number  of  single  sermons,  addresses,  etc.     He  has  written  in 
past   years   for  reviews,  but  has  not  published  any  work  in 
book  form.    The  Assistant  Bishop  of  New  York,  the  Rt.  Rev. 
Henry  C.  Potter,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  has  published  a  number  of 
volumes,  including  Sisterhoods  and  Deaconesses,  at  Home  and 
Abroad :  A  History  of  their  Rise  and  Growth  in  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  together  with  Rules  for  their  Organization 
and  Government  (1872)  ;   The  Gates  of  the  East :  A  Winter  in 
Egypt  and  Syria  (1876),  and  Sermons  of  the  City  (1880). 

In  addition  to  the  Rt.  Rev.  Fathers  just  named,  who  have 
presided  over  the  Diocese  of  New  York,  there  are  others  in 
the  episcopate  who  come  properly  within  the  scope  of  the 
present  sketch,  in  consequence  of  the  fact  that  a  large  or  the 
larger  part  of  their  literary  labors  was  performed  while  they 
were  in  New  York.  Bishop  Whittingham,  who  was  eminent 
for  scholarship  and  ability,  takes  lead  among  these.  While 
he  was  as  yet  a  very  young  man,  he  published  a  number  of 
valuable  works.  As  early  as  1827,  in  conjunction  with  the 
Rev.  Dr.  S.  H.  Turner,  he  translated  Jahn's  Lntroduction 
to  the  Old  Testament.  He  became  editor  of  The  Family  Visitor 
(fortnightly),  and  The  Children's  Magazine  (monthly),  and 
furnished  excellent  matter  for  Church  people's  reading.  In 
1829  he  took  charge  of  the  work  of  The  Protestant  Episcopal 
Press,  and  in  183 1  assumed  editorial  care  of  The  Churchman, 
in  which  for  two  or  three  years  he  rendered  valuable  service 
in  advocating  and  setting  forth  Catholic  Church  principle 
and  practice,  as  these  are  held  by  the  American  Episcopal 
Church.      In  the  service  of  The  Protestant  Episcopal  Press 


436  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

(from  1828  onwards)  he  brought  out  the  Parish  and  Reli- 
gions Family  Library,  for  use  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  13  vols.,  i2mo.  Among  these  are  the  Apostolic 
Fathers,  Sumner  on  Apostolic  Preaching,  Walton  s  Lives, 
etc.  Early  in  1836  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  Ecclesias- 
tical History  in  the  General  Theological  Seminary,  in 
which  position  he  served  the  best  interests  of  the  Church 
and  the  ministry  until  his  acceptance  of  the  bishopric  of 
Maryland,  in  September,  1840.  Subsequently,  he  edited  for 
an  American  edition,  with  notes,  etc.,  Palmer's  Treatise  on 
the  Church  of  Christ  (2  vols.,  8vo,  1841);  Commejitary  of 
Vincent  of  Lerins,  new  translation,  with  notes,  etc.  (1847); 
Ratramn  on  the  Lord's  Supper,  with  a  revised  translation, 
and  Anglican  Catholicity  Vindicated  against  Roman  Innova- 
tions, being  Isaac  Casaubon's  answer  to  Cardinal  Perron 
(1875).  The  Rt.  Rev.  Arthur  Cleveland  Coxe,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
second  Bishop  of  Western  New  York,  who  was  educated  in 
New  York  City  and  held  the  rectorship  of  one  of  its  chief 
parishes  for  years,  is  well  known  not  only  as  a  theologian  and 
scholar,  but  also  as  one  of  the  few  poets  which  the  Church  in 
America  has  produced.  In  this  latter  respect  he  is  a  worthy 
peer  of  William  Croswell  and  others  who  have  contributed 
to  make  Church  poetry  what  it  is  in  our  day.  In  1840  he 
published  his  Christian  Ballads,  of  which  a  revised  edition, 
with  illustrations,  was  issued  in  1864;  he  also  published 
Athanasion,  and  other  Poems  (1842);  Hallowe'en,  and 
other  Poems  (1844);  Saul,  a  Mystery,  and  other  Poems 
(1845).  Besides  these  he  published  a  volume  of  Sermons 
on  Doctrine  and  Duty  (1854)  ;  Impressions  of  England 
(1856);  Criterion  (1866),  and  is  now  (1885)  occupied  in 
editing,  with  valuable  notes  and  elucidations,  The  Ante- 
Nicene  Fathers,  to  be  completed  in  eight  royal  8vo  volumes. 
Bishop  Coxe  has  also  been  a  frequent  contributor  to  reviews, 
magazines,  and  other  periodicals.  The  Rt.  Rev.  A.  N.  Little- 
john,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  first  Bishop  of  Long  Island,  became  rector 
of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Brooklyn,  N.Y.,  in  i860, 
and  when  Long  Island  was  set  off  as  a  diocese  he  was  elected 
to   be    its   bishop,  and  was    consecrated    in    January,    1869. 


CHURCH  LITERATURE  OF  THE  CENTURY.      437 

Bishop  Littlejohn  is  a  vigorous  writer,  and  has  published  a 
number  of  volumes  which  rank  high  in  the  esteem  of  the 
Church.  Among  these  maybe  noted  here:  Lectures  on  the 
Philosophy  of  Religion  (1855);  Individualism:  Its  Grozvth 
and  Tendencies,  with  some  Suggestions  as  to  the  Remedy  for 
its  Evils,  being  sermons  preached  before  the  University  of 
Cambridge  in  November,  1880;  Condones  ad  Clerum,  1879, 
1880;  The  Christian  Ministry  at  the  Close  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century  (1885).  The  Bishop  of  Long  Island  has  also  con- 
tributed to  Church  literature  by  publishing  a  number  of 
charges,  addresses,  occasional  sermons,  etc. 

With  this  brief  record,  we  pass  from  the  bishops  to  others 
in  the  ministry  who  have  rendered  good  service  in  behalf  of 
the  Church's  literature  during  the  century  just  passed.  We 
give  the  names  in  chronological  order  as  nearly  as  may  be. 
The  Rev.  John  Bowden,  D.D.,  was  of  Irish  birth  (d.  181 7), 
but  came  to  America  in  early  life.  He  graduated  at  King's 
(now  Columbia)  College  in  1772.  He  went  to  England  for 
orders,  and  on  his  return,  in  1774,  he  became  an  assistant 
minister  of  Trinity  Church,  New  York.  In  1801,  Dr.  Bowden 
was  appointed  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy,  Belles-Lettres, 
and  Logic  in  Columbia  College,  a  position  which  he  filled  to 
the  close  of  his  life.  His  published  works  were  mostly  con- 
troversial, in  defence  of  the  Church's  claims  and  position, 
against  Presbyterian  and  other  objections.  The  series  of  let- 
ters addressed  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Miller,  a  Presbyterian  divine 
in  New  York,  entitled  The  Apostolic  Origin  of  Episcopacy 
Asserted  (1808),  are  very  able,  and  have  been  republished  in 
the  Works  on  Episcopacy ,  vol.  i.,  Protestant  Episcopal  Press 
(1831).  Dr.  Sprague  (v.  306)  gives  a  full  list  of  Dr.  Bowden's 
publications.  The  Rev.  Edmund  D.  Griffin  (d.  1830)  was  a 
graduate  of  Columbia  College,  entered  the  ministry  in  1826, 
and  for  two  years  occupied  a  position  in  New  York  City. 
Health  having  failed,  he  went  abroad,  in  1828,  and  on  his  re- 
turn, in  April,  1830,  he  was  engaged  in  service  at  Columbia 
College,  during  the  temporary  absence  of  Dr.  McVickar.  His 
strength  failed  rapidly  after  this,  and  at  the  beginning  of  Sep- 
tember he  went  away  to  his  rest.     Dr.  McVickar  published 


438  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

his  literary  Remains  in  1831  (2  vols.),  with  a  memoir  of  the 
deceased.  The  Rev.  Dr.  James  Milnor  (d.  1844)  was  bred  to 
the  bar  in  his  native  city,  Philadelphia,  and  for  a  number  of 
years  was  engaged  in  civil  service.  In  1814  he  was  admitted 
to  the  ministry  by  Bishop  White,  served  the  Church  in  Phila- 
delphia two  years,  and  then  accepted  a  call  to  St.  George's 
Church,  New  York.  This  position  he  held  till  his  death.  Dr. 
Milnor  published  an  Oration  on  Masonry  (181 1),  and  a  num- 
ber of  occasional  sermons  (181 7,  1828,  1836).  The  Rev.  Dr. 
John  D.  Ogilby  was  born  in  Ireland,  but  came  to  the  United 
States  when  a  boy  five  years  old.  He  graduated  at  Columbia 
College  in  1829,  and  took  orders  in  1838.  Three  years  later 
he  was  elected  to  the  chair  of  Ecclesiastical  History  in  the 
General  Theological  Seminary,  and  devoted  himself  to  the 
work  he  had  undertaken.  His  health  broke  down,  and  he 
went  abroad  in  hope  of  recovery,  but  he  died  in  Paris,  Feb- 
ruary 2,  185 1.  Dr.  Ogilby  published  An  Outline  of  the  Argu- 
ment against  the  Validity  of  Lay  Baptism  (1842) ;  The  Catholic 
Church  in  England  and  America  (1844),  together  with  a  num- 
ber of  single  sermons,  addresses,  etc.  The  Rev.  Bird  Wilson, 
D.D.,  LL.D.  (d.  1859),  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  gradu- 
ated from  the  University  of  that  State  in  1792,  and  five  years 
later  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-one. 
He  was  elevated  to  the  bench  not  long  after,  but,  desiring 
rather  to  be  occupied  in  the  work  of  the  ministry,  he  studied 
theology  under  Bishop  White,  and  took  orders  in  1819.  He 
was  appointed  Professor  of  Systematic  Divinity  in  the  General 
Theological  Seminary  in  1821,  and  resided  thenceforth  in  New 
York.  His  judicial  training  was  an  admirable  help  to  him  in 
this  position,  which  is  second  to  none  in  importance  in  a 
course  of  theological  training  for  the  ministry.  At  the  ad- 
vanced age  of  seventy-four,  Dr.  Wilson  resigned  his  profess- 
orship, and  claimed  his  well-earned  repose.  His  chief  con- 
tribution to  Church  literature  was  the  Memoir  of  the  Life  of 
Bishop  White  (1839).  It:  was  undertaken  at  the  request  of 
the  bishop's  family  and  the  clergy  of  Pennsylvania  generally, 
and  is  a  fitting  tribute  to  the  noble  qualities  of  head  and 
heart  possessed  by  the  venerable  and  beloved  presiding  bishop 


CHURCH    LITERATURE   OF  THE   CENTURY.  439 

of  the  American  Episcopal  Church.  The  Rev.  Dr.  S.  H. 
Turner,  coadjutor  of  Dr.  Wilson  in  the  Seminary  (d.  1861), 
was  Professor  of  Biblical  Learning  and  the  Interpretation  of 
Scripture  from  1820  to  i860.  Dr.  Turner's  contributions  in 
his  department  were  numerous  and  valuable.  He  was  a  very 
industrious  student,  and  published,  during  his  long  service  as 
professor  in  the  Seminary,  Notes  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans 
(1824) ;  Planck's  Introduction  to  Sacred  Philology  and  Inter- 
pretation, translated  from  the  German,  with  notes  (1834); 
Companion  to  the  Book  of  Genesis  ( 1 84 1 )  ;  Essay  on  our  Lord's 
Discourse  at  Capernaum,  recorded  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  St. 
John,  with  Strictures  on  Cardinal  Wiseman  s  Lectures  on  the 
Real  Presence,  etc.  (185 1)  ;  Thoughts  on  the  Origin,  Character, 
and  Interpretation  of  Scripture  Prophecy  (1852) ;  St.  Pauls 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  Greek  and  English,  with  a  Commentary 
(1852)  ;  Spiritual  Things  Compared  with  Spiritual ;  or,  The 
Gospels  and  Acts  Illustrated  by  the  use  of  Parallel  References 
(1859).  His  latest  work  was  an  Autobiography,  which  con- 
tains curious  and  interesting  matter  (published  in  1863,  after 
his  death).  The  Rev.  Dr.  William  Berrian,  rector  of  Trinity 
Church,  New  York  (d.  1862),  during  his  long  incumbency  of 
over  thirty  years  published  a  number  of  volumes,  viz.  : 
Travels  in  France  and  Italy  in  18 17  (1820);  Devotions  for  the 
Sick  Room,  Family  and  Private  Prayers,  Sailors  Manual, 
Historical  Sketch  of  Trinity  Church,  New  York  (1847)  '■>  Recol- 
lections of  Departed  Friends  (1850). 

The  Rev.  Francis  L.  Hawks,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  aptly  char- 
acterized by  Dr.  Seabury  as  "  the  Chrysostom  of  the  Ameri- 
can Church,"  was  a  native  of  North  Carolina  (born  in  1798, 
died  in  1866).  Bred  to  the  law  he  nevertheless  entered  the 
ministry  in  1827;  became  rector  of  St.  Stephen's  Church, 
New  York,  1831  ;  rector  of  St.  Thomas'  Church,  1832; 
rector  of  Calvary  Church,  1849- 1862  ">  and  from  1865  to  his 
death,  rector  of  the  new  Chapel  of  the  Holy  Saviour.  Dr. 
Hawks  was  several  times  elected  bishop,  but  he  declined 
elevation  to  the  episcopate.  In  1835  he  was  appointed  by 
the  General  Convention  "  historiographer  "  of  the  American 
Episcopal  Church,  and  was  zealous  in   discharge  of  the  im- 


440  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

portant  duties  attached  to  that  post.  His  publications  were 
very  numerous,  and  covered  a  wide  field  of  literature  and  re- 
search. Among  his  works,  we  name  here  ;  Contributions  to 
the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  the  United  States,  embracing 
Virginia  and  Maryland  (2  vols.,  1836-1841);  also,  as  part  of 
the  same  contributions,  Commentary  on  the  Constitution  and 
Canons  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States 
(1841);  Auricular  Confession  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
(1850);  History  of  North  Carolina  (1857).  Dr.  Hawks 
was  translator  and  editor  of  several  valuable  works,  viz.  : 
Rivero  and  Tschudi's  Antiquities  of  Peru  (1854)  ;  The 
Official  and  other  State  Papers  of  the  late  Maj.-Gen.  Alexander 
Hamilton  (1842);  Narrative  of  Commodore  Perry  s  Expe- 
dition to  the  China  Seas  and  Japan,  in  1852-54  (1856),  com- 
piled from  Perry's  original  notes  and  journals  ;  The  Romance 
of  Biography  (12  vols).  Dr.  Hawks,  in  conjunction  with 
Dr.  C.  S.  Henry,  established  The  New  York  Review  (1837- 
43),  in  which  several  of  the  ablest  papers  were  the  product  of 
his  pen.  He  was  also  a  frequent  contributor  to  other  re- 
views, to  magazines,  journals,  etc.  His  latest  publication  was 
Documentary  History  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
containing  documents  concerning  the  Church  in  Connecticut, 
edited  in  conjunction  with  W.  S.  Perry  (2  vols.,  1863).  The 
Rev.  John  McVickar,  D.D.  (d.  1868),  who,  for  forty  years 
filled  the  chair  of  Moral  Philosophy,  Rhetoric,  and  Belles- 
Lettres  in  Columbia  College,  New  York,  was  a  valuable  con- 
tributor to  Church  literature  in  his  day  and  generation.  In 
addition  to  numerous  pamphlets  and  essays,  Dr.  McVickar 
published  a  Narrative  of  the  Life  of  Dr.  Samuel  Bard 
(1822);  Outlines  of  Political  Economy  (1825);  Memoir  of 
the  Rev.  Edmund  D.  Griffin  (1831);  Early  Years  of  Bishop 
Hobart  (1834);  and  Professional  Years  of  Bishop  Hobart 
(1836).  The  Rev.  Samuel  Seabury,  D.D.  (d.  1872),  grandson 
of  the  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Seabury,  of  Connecticut,  received 
orders  in  1826.  In  1831  he  removed  to  New  York,  and  a  few 
years  later  became  editor  of  The  Churchman.  This  posi- 
tion he  held  for  some  fifteen  years,  and  rendered  that  journal 
one  of  the  most  efficient  and  powerful  in  the  Church  in  its  ad- 


CHURCH   LITERATURE   OF   THE   CENTURY.  44 1 

vocacy  of  the  true  position  and  rightful  claims  of  the  Ameri- 
can branch  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Dr.  Seabury  was  rector 
of  the  Church  of  the  Anunciation,  New  York,  from  1838  to 
1868,  and  in  1862  was  appointed  Dr.  Turner's  successor  in  the 
chair  of  Biblical  Learning  in  the  General  Theological  Sem- 
inary. His  chief  publications  were:  The  Continuity  of  the 
Church  of  England  in  the  Sixteenth  Century  (1853);  Dis- 
courses on  the  Supremacy  and  Obligation  of  Conscience  (i860)  ; 
American  Slavery  distinguished  from  the  Slavery  of  English 
Theorists,  and  justified  by  the  Law  of  Nature  (1861)  ;  The 
Theory  and  Use  of  the  Church  Calendar  (1872).  Discourses 
Illustrative  of  the  Nature  and  Work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 
other  papers,  edited  by  his  son,  Dr.  W.  J.  Seabury,  were 
published  in  1874.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Francis  Vinton  (d.  1872) 
was  trained  at  first  for  the  military  service,  graduating  at 
West  Point  in  1830,  and  serving  during  the  Creole  War  in 
Georgia  in  1836.  He  studied  law  at  Harvard,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1834.  He  next  studied  theology,  in 
the  General  Theological  Seminary,  and  was  admitted  to 
orders  in  1838.  He  was  rector  of  Emanuel  Church,  Brook- 
lyn, in  1844,  and  of  Grace  Church,  Brooklyn,  in  1847.  He 
became  an  assistant  minister  of  Trinity  Church,  New  York, 
1 85 5,  which  position  he  retained  until  his  death.  In  1869  he 
was  appointed  to  the  new  professorship  in  the  Seminary  of 
Ecclesiastical  Polity  and  Law,  and  discharged  its  duties  with 
zeal  and  diligence.  Besides  single  sermons,  orations,  lec- 
tures, etc.,  Dr.  Vinton  published  Arthur  Tremai?ie ;  or, 
Cadet  Life  (1830);  Lectures  on  the  Evidences  of  Christian- 
ity (1855);  and  a  Manual  Commentary  on  the  General 
Canon  Law  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United 
States  (1870).  The  Rev.  Dr.  William  A.  Muhlenberg  (d.  1877) 
was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  entered  the  ministry  in  1817, 
and  founded  St.  Paul's  College,  Flushing,  Long  Island,  in 
1828.  For  nearly  twenty  years  he  was  at  its  head,  and 
exerted  through  it  marked  influences  on  education.  In  1846 
he  became  rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Communion, 
New  York,  the  earliest  among  free-seat  churches  in  the  city. 
St.  Luke's  Hospital,  New   York,  was  founded    through  his 


442  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH    HISTORY. 

efforts;  it  was  opened  in  1858,  and  Dr.  Muhlenberg  was  for 
many  years  its  pastor.  He  organized  the  first  Protestant 
sisterhood  in  the  United  States,  and  established  the  institu- 
tion at  St.  Johnland,  on  Long  Island,  an  industrial  Christian 
settlement  and  community.  Dr.  Muhlenberg  originated  in 
1853  the  "  memorial  "  movement,  as  it  is  called  in  the  Church, 
which  bore  fruit  in  subsequent  years.*  He  made  valuable 
contributions  to  the  hymnology  and  music  of  the  Church. 
Church  Poetry,  selected  and  arranged  from  Various  Authors, 
was  published  in  1823  ;  and  Music  of  the  Church,  in  con- 
junction with  Dr.  J.  M.  Wainwright,  appeared  in  1852;  also 
The  People's  Psalter  (new  and  revised  edition,  1858).  Since 
his  decease  has  been  published  Evangelical  Catholic  Papers, 
edited  by  Anne  Ayres.  First  series :  a  collection  of  essays, 
letters,  and  tractates,  from  his  writings  during  the  past  forty 
years  (1875).  Second  series  :  comprising  addresses,  lectures, 
and  sermons,  from  his  writings  during  the  past  fifty  years 
(1877).  The  Rev.  Edward  A.  Washburn,  D.D.,  (d.  1881)  was 
a  native  of  Boston,  and  graduated  from  Harvard  in  1838. 
He  received  orders  in  1844;  went  abroad  for  two  years  in 
185 1  ;  became  rector  of  Calvary  Church,  New  York,  in  1865. 
This  position  he  filled  to  the  close  of  his  life.  Dr.  Washburn 
was  a  diligent  student  and  a  scholar  of  large  and  liberal  cul- 
ture. In  conjunction  with  Rev.  Dr.  E.  Harwood  he  trans- 
lated and  supplemented  the  Pastoral  Epistles  in  Lange's 
Commentary.  He  contributed  a  valuable  note  to  Dr. 
Schaff  's  Creeds  of  Christendom  on  the  doctrinal  position  of 
the  English  Church  ;  was  a  member  of  the  American  company 
of  New  Testament  revisers  of  the  authorized  version  of  the 
Bible,  and  read  papers  before  the  Evangelical  Alliance  (1873- 
1879)  on  "  Reason  and  Faith  "  and  on  "  Socialism."  He  wrote 
freely  for  the  reviews ;  but  published  only  a  single  volume, 
viz. :  The  Social  Law  of  God :  Sermons  on  the  Ten  Command- 
ments {$t\\  ed.,  1881).  There  has  been  printed  also  a  tractate 
of  his,    entitled    Relation   of  the  Episcopal   Church  to  other 

*  See  Bishop  Perry's  History  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church,  on  "The 
Memorial  Discussion  and  its  Practical  Results,"  vol.  ii. ,  pp.  292-310. 


CHURCH    LITERATURE   OF  THE   CENTURY.  443 

Christian   Bodies,  which  clearly  sets  forth  his  matured  con- 
victions on  this  subject. 

Passing  by,  for  lack  of  room,  several  honorable  names, 
such  as  the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  C.  Rudd  (d.  1848),  the  Rev.  Dr.  C.  F. 
Cruse  (d.  1865),  the  Rev.  Dr.  Milo  Mahan  (d.  1870),  the  Rev. 
Dr.  John  Cotton  Smith  (d.  1882),  the  Rev.  Dr.  F.  C.  Ewer 
(d.  1883),  the  Rev.  Dr.  C.  S.  Henry  (d.  1884),  the  Rev.  Dr.  T. 
W.  Coit  (d.  1885),  the  Rev.  Dr.  S.  H.  Tyng  (d.  1885)  and 
others,  only  brief  space  can  be  given  to  some  of  those  who 
are  still  living  and  serving  the  Church  in  New  York.  The 
venerable  Rev.  William  Staunton,  D.D.,  a  generation  ago 
prepared  a  work  which  has  stood  the  test  of  time,  and  is  the 
standard  work  on  the  subject.  It  was  originally  called 
the  Dictionary  of  the  Church,  but  its  present  title  is,  An 
Ecclesiastical  Dictionary,  containing  Definitions  of  Terms 
and  Explanations  and  Illustrations  of  Subjects  pertaining  to 
the'  History,  Ritual,  Discipline,  Worship,  Ceremonies,  and 
Usages  of  the  Christian  Church  ;  with  brief  Notices  of  An- 
cient and  Modern  Sects,  and  Biographical  Sketches  of  the 
Early  Fathers  and  Writers  of  the  Church  (4th  ed.,  with  ad- 
ditions, 1875).  Dr.  Staunton  has  also  been  a  frequent  con- 
tributor to  reviews,  magazines,  and  journals  in  the  Church. 
He  holds  a  facile  and  pointed  pen,  and  is  always  forcible  and 
instructive.  The  Rev.  Morgan  Dix,  S.T.D.,  although  rector 
(since  1862)  of  the  largest  parish  in  the  American  Church, 
and  burdened  with  grave  responsibilities,  has  found  time  to 
make  numerous  contributions  to  Church  literature.  Among 
these  we  note  A  Commentary  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans, 
Lectures  on  the  Pantheistic  Idea  of  an  Impersonal-Substance 
Deity,  Essay  on  Christian  Art,  Lectures  on  the  Two  Estates, 
that  of  the  Wedded  in  the  Lord  and  that  of  the  Single 
for  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  s  Sake ;  The  Gospel  and  Philos- 
ophy:  Six  Lectures.  Dr.  Dix's  style  is  clear  and  incisive, 
and  he  rarely,  if  ever,  fails  to  make  his  meaning  plain  to 
intelligent  readers.  The  Rev.  J.  H.  Rylance,  D.D.,  rector 
of  St.  Mark's  Church  in  the  Bowery,  New  York,  has  given 
much  thought  to  the  "burning"  questions  of  the  day, 
in  regard  to  the  foundations    of   social  life   and    order,   the 


444  CENTENNIAL   CHURCH   HISTORY. 

mutual  relations  of  classes  in  the  community,  and  the  like. 
His  publications  have  thus  far  been  few,  but  yet  effective 
for  good.  The  Rev.  William  R.  Huntington,  D.D.,  rector  of 
Grace  Church,  New  York,  as  successor  of  Bishop  H.  C. 
Potter,  holds  a  position  of  high  importance.  Besides  his 
well-known  labors  in  connection  with  the  revision  of  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  he  has  published  The  Church  Idea, 
a  valuable  contribution  to  Church  unity,  also  a  volume 
on  Conditional  Immortality.  Dr.  Huntington  is  by  right  a 
poet,  and  has  proven  his  right  to  the  name,  but  he  has  not 
published  a  volume  of  poetry  as  yet.  The  Rev.  Chas.  H. 
Hall,  D.D.,  though  in  the  Diocese  of  Long  Island,  may  prop- 
erly here  be  included  as  belonging  to  New  York  before  the 
new  diocese  was  formed.  Dr.  H.  has  published  Notes  on  the 
Gospels,  which  are  marked  by  excellent  judgment  in  the  use 
of  his  material,  and  by  sound  and  sober  exegesis.  His 
more  recent  contribution  is  entitled  Shadows  of  the  Valley, 
being  a  discussion  of  the  question  much  mooted  in  our 
day,  that  of  future  punishment.  Principal  Fairbairn,  of  St. 
Stephen's  College,  is  a  well-furnished  scholar,  and  has 
published  a  volume  of  Sermons,  which  are  admirable  speci- 
mens of  academic  preaching.  Dr.  W.  W.  Olssen,  a  professor 
in  the  same  college,  has  published  two  volumes,  Personality, 
Human  and  Divine,  and  Revelation,  Universal  a?id  Special, 
which  show  not  only  ability  and  scholarship,  but  also  sound 
conservative  Church  teaching.  Others  of  the  clergy  have 
contributed  in  some  degree  to  Church  literature,  but  neces- 
sity compels  us  to  pass  them  by  at  this  time.* 


*  Jesse  Ames  Spencer,  S.T.D.,  the  writer  of  this  article,  is  a  native  of  New 
York;  graduated  at  Columbia  College,  1837,  and  from  the  General  Theological 
Seminary,  1840  ;  was  admitted  to  orders  in  1840 ;  served  two  or  three  years  in  a 
parish,  but  was  compelled  to  go  abroad  in  search  of  health;  traveled  in  Europe 
and  the  East;  was  professor  of  Latin  and  Oriental  Languages  in  Burlington  Col- 
lege, N.  J.,  in  1849-1850;  editor  and  secretary  of  the  General  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Sunday-school  Union  and  Church  Book  Society,  1851-1857  ;  professor  of 
Greek  Language  and  Literature  in  College  of  the  City  of  New  York,  1869-1881. 
Dr.  Spencer  has  published  The  New  Testament  in  Greek,  with  notes  on  the 
historical  books  (1847);  Casar's  Commentaries,  with  notes,  lexicon,  etc.  (1848); 
Egypt  and  the  Holy  Land  (1849);  History  of  the  United  States  (4  vols.,  1856- 


CHURCH   LITERATURE   OF   THE   CENTURY.  445 

The  laity  of  the  Church  in  New  York  are  entitled  to 
special  mention  as  contributing  to  its  literature.  Among 
those  were,  the  eminent  civilian  and  president  of  Columbia 
College,  William  Samuel  Johnson,  LL.D.  (d.  1819);  the  gen- 
erous benefactor  of  the  General  Theological  Seminary,  the 
faithful  teacher  in  that  institution,  the  poet  of  no  mean 
renown,  Clement  C.  Moore,  LL.D.  (d.  1863);  the  wise  and 
learned  jurist  and  author,  also  a  professor  in  the  General 
Theological  Seminary,  Gulian  C.  Verplanck,  LL.D.  (d.  1870); 
the  well-read  scholar  and  magistcr  bibliothecanim,  J.  G. 
Cogswell,  LL.D.  (d.  1 871) ;  the  able  expositor  of  Church  law, 
Murray  Hoffman,  LL.D.  (d.  1878)  ;  the  genial  men  of  letters 
and  authors,  the  brothers  Evert  and  George  L.  Duyckinck 
(d.  1878,  1863)  ;  and  others  among  the  departed  as  well  as 
the  living. 

The  present  paper,  such  as  it  is,  confessedly  imperfect,  here 
comes  to  its  close.  It  is  hoped  that  it  will,  in  some  degree, 
help  those  who  come  after  to  appreciate  the  full  force  of  the 
Psalmist's  words,  IN  MEMORIA  AETERNA  ERIT  JUSTUS. 


CZV^^2-*2n-u4.eV  Q/71 


1869)  ;  Greek  Praxis  (1870) ;  The  Young  Ruler,  and  Other  Discourses  (1871) ; 
A  Course  of  English  Reading  (1873).  He  edited  Archbishop  Trench's  Poems  (1856), 
and  Xenophon's  Anabasis,  from  Professor  A.  Crosby's  manuscripts.  Dr.  Spencer 
has  also  contributed  freely  to  current  literature  in  the  leading  reviews  and 
magazines  of  the  day. — [Editor.] 


ERRATA. 


Page  171,  line  7  from  bottom,  "  the  Dioceses  of  Albany  and  Long  Island,"  omit- 
ting "  Central  New  York." 

"     192,     "      3         "  "  new  Dioceses  of  Long   Island  and   Albany," 

omitting  "  and  Central  New  York." 

"     r93>     "      7,  "  long  ago  councils,  representing,"  etc. 

"    221,     "    13  from  bottom,  Coit,  not  Cook. 

"     245,      "    21,  1885,  not  1855. 

"    254,     "      7,  1822,  not  1882. 


INDEX. 


Adams,  John,  American  Minister  to 
England,  135  ;  Vice-President  of 
United  States,  136. 

Aged  and   Infirm  Clergy  Fund,  N.  Y., 

393- 

Albany,  Bishop  of,  and  delegates  present 
at  Convention,  6;  created  a  diocese, 
81,  82. 

All  Angels'  Church,  N.  Y.,  325,  326. 

All  Saints' Church,  Rosendale,  361. 
"         Briarcliff,  341. 
"  "        New  York,  265, 266. 

"        Milton,  310. 

All  Souls'  Church,  N.  Y.,  329. 

Alumni  of  Gen.  Theol.  Seminary  en- 
dow a  professorship,  383. 

Alsop,  J.,  371. 

Andrews,  J.  W.,  "  Church  Law  of,"  99. 

Auchmuty,  Rev.  Dr.,  rector  of  Trinity 
Ch.,  N.  Y.,  64,  143  ;  death  of,  67. 


B. 


Babcock,  Rev.  Dr.  T.,  7. 

Barclay,  Rev.  Dr.  H. ,  rector  of  Trinity 
Ch.,  New  York,  62  ;  death  of,  64. 

Bard,  John,  generosity  of,  to  St.  Ste- 
phen's College,  402-408. 

Bass,  Rev.  Edward,  77 ;  Bishop  of 
Massachusetts,  78. 

Beach,  Rev.  Abraham,  68,  69,  139. 

Beardsley,  Rev.  John,  130,  214,  226. 

Bedinger,  Rev.  H.,  5. 

Berrian,  Rev.  Dr.  W.,  rector  of  Trinity 
Ch.,  N.  Y.,  quoted,  143,  170  ;  ordi- 
nation of,  146  ;  publications  of,  438. 

Betts,  William,  372. 

Bible  and  Prayer  Book  Society,  New 
York,  373. 

Blind,  Destitute,  Society  for  Relief  of, 
421. 

Bloomer,  Rev.  Joshua,  69,  127. 

Bogart,  W.  H.,  7. 

Bowden,  Rev.  Dr.  John,  assistant  min- 
ister of  Trinity  Church,  N.  Y.,  66, 
143  ;  death  of,  150  ;  contributions 
to  Church  literature,  436. 


Brodhead,  History  of  State  of  N.  York, 

value  and  defects  of,  87-89,  91. 
Brown,    Rev.    Dr.   John,  rector  of  St. 

George's  Ch.,  Newburgh,  215,  216. 
Brownell,    Rev.    Dr.    T.    C,    assistant 

minister  of  Trinity  Ch.,  N.  Y.,  178  ; 

Bishop  of  Connecticut,  178,  192. 
Buel,    Rev.   Dr.   S.,  professor  in  Gen. 

Theol.  Seminary,  389. 
Burhans,  Rev.  Daniel,  140. 


Calvary  Church,  New  York,  277-279. 
Calvary  Chapel,  N.  Y.,  277,278. 
Central   N.  Y.,  letter  of  Bishop  of,  to 
Dr.  Dix,  3,4  ;  delegates  from,  pres- 
ent at  Convention,  7  ;   diocese  of, 
when  created,  80,  81. 
Chandler,  Rev.  Dr.  T.  B.,  372. 
Chapel  of  St.  Stephen's  College,  Annan- 
dale,  361,  362. 
Children's  Fold,  N.  Y.,  424. 
Christ's  Church,  Marlborough,  280,281. 
"  New  Brighton,  311. 

"  "         New  York,  237,  238. 

"         Paterson,  256. 
"  "         Pelham,  287. 

"  "  Piermont,  303. 

"  "         Poughkeepsie,  214,215. 

"  "         Red  Hook,  320. 

"  "         Riverdale,  N.  Y.,  332. 

"         Rye,  222-24. 
"  "         Tarrytown,  279,  280. 

"  "  Warwick,  335. 

"  "         Yonkers,  359. 

Church,  the,  in  N.Y.,  low  state  of,  when 

Bp.  Hobart  was  consecrated,  151. 
Church  of  the  Annunciation,  New  York, 

281,  282. 
Church  of  the  Ascension,  N.Y.,  266,  267. 
Esopus,  2S4. 
"  "  "  Rhinecliff,  324. 

"  W.  New  Brigh- 

ton, 342. 
Church  of  the  Beloved  Disciple,  N.  Y., 

355-  356- 
Church  of  the  Divine   Love,  Montrose, 


448 


INDEX. 


Church  of  the  Epiphany,  N.Y. ,  292-294. 

Church  of  the  Heavenly  Rest,  N.Y. ,341. 

Church  of  the  Holy  Apostles,  N.  Y., 
294-296. 

Church  of  the  Holy  Comforter,  Pough- 
keepsie,  334,  335. 

Church  of  the  Holy  Comforter,  South- 
field,  334. 

Church  of  the  Holy  Comforter,  N.  Y., 
321. 

Church  of  the  Holy  Communion,  N.  Y., 
288-292. 

Church  of  the  Holy  Cross,  349. 

Church  of  the  Holy  Faith,  357. 

Church  of  the  Holy  Innocents,  High- 
land Falls,  388,  389. 

Church  of  the  Holy  Innocents,  Harlem, 

359- 
Church  of  the  Holy   Sepulchre,  N.  Y., 

332,  333- 
Church  of  the    Holy   Spirit,    Rondout, 

309,  310. 
Church  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  N.  Y.,  353. 
Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Highland, 

351,  352. 
Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  N.  Y.,  331, 

332. 
Church  of  the  Incarnation,  N.  Y. ,  312, 

313- 
Church  of  the  Intercession,  N.  Y.,  304. 
Church  of  the  Mediator,  South  Yonkers, 

325- 
Church  of  the  Messiah,  Rhinebeck,  311, 

312. 
Church  of  the  Nativity,  N.  Y.,  285. 
Church  of  the  Reconciliation,    N.  Y., 

330. 
Church  of  the  Regeneration,  Pine  Plains, 

327. 
Church  of  the  Redeemer,  N.  Y.,  315. 
Church  of  the  Redeemer,     Pelhamville, 

358. 
Church  of  the  Reformation,  N.  Y.,  337— 

339- 
Church  of  St.  Augustine,  Croton,  361. 
Church  of  St.   Edward  the  Martyr,  N. 

Y.,  358. 
Church  of  St.  George  the  Martyr,  296. 
Church  of  St.   John   the   Baptist,  Glen- 
ham,  350. 
Church  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  N.  Y., 

302. 
Church  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  N. 

Y.,316. 
Church  of  St.  Ignatius,  N.  Y.,  345,  346. 
Church  of  St.  Mary  the  Virgin,  N.  Y., 

346- 
Church  of  the  Transfiguration,  N.  Y., 

305-308. 


Church  Literature  of  the  Century,  431- 
444- 

Claggett,  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop,  consecration 
of,  17,   136. 

Cogswell,  J.  G.,  LL.D.,  444. 

Coit,  Rev.  Dr.  T.  W.,  181,  221,  441. 

Columbia  College,  chartered  in  1754,63. 

"  Concordate,"  agreement  of  Bp.  Sea- 
bury  with  Scotch  Church,  74-76. 

Congress  (1776),  appoint  a  day  of  fast- 
ing and  prayer,  130. 

Convention  of  Diocese  of  N.  Y.,  the 
hundred  and  second,  commemora- 
tion of  centenary,  3  ;  public  service 
in  Trinity  Chuich,  N.  Y.,  5,  6  ; 
delegates  from  other  New  York 
dioceses  present,  6  ;  sermon  by  Dr. 
W.  J.  Seabury,   7-36. 

Cooper,  Rev.  Dr.,  president  of  King's 
College,  N.  Y.,  65. 

Corporation  for  Relief  of  Widows  and 
Children  of  Clergymen  in  New 
York,  historical  sketch  of,  371,  372  ; 
officers  of  (1885),  373. 

Coxe,  Rt.  Rev.  A.  C,  present  at  Con- 
vention and  assisting,  6  ;  address  of, 
delivered  in  St.  Thomas'  Ch. ,  N. 
Y.,  105-112  ;  sketch  by,  of  life  and 
episcopate  of  Bp.  Hobart,  third 
Bishop  of  N.  York,  148-170  ;  rector 
of  Calvary  Ch.,  N.  Y.,  277  ;  vice- 
president  of  Corporation  for  Relief, 
etc->  373  i  contributions  to  Church 
literature,  435. 

Creighton,  Rev.  Dr.  W.,  elected  provi- 
sional Bishop  of  N.  York,  81  ;  de- 
clined, 81. 

Cruse,  Rev.  C.  F.,  226,  441. 


D. 


Deaf  Mutes,  Church  mission  to,  426. 

De  Costa,  Rev.  Dr.,  historical  essay  of, 
on  origin  and  progress  of  Church 
in  New  York,  46-86;  sketch  of  the 
early  history  of  the  Colonial  Church 
in  N.  Y.,  87-103. 

Dehon,  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop,  374. 

De  Lancey,  James  (1 753),  Governor  of 
N.  York,  63. 

De  Lancey,  Rev.  Dr.  W.  H.,  elected 
and  consecrated  Bishop  of  Western 
N.  Y.,  80;  great  work  of,  in  W.N. 
York,  in. 

Dix,'  Rev.  Dr.,  rector  of  Trinity  Ch., 
N.  Y.,  letter  of  Bp.  Huntington  to, 
3,  4;  rector  of  Trinity  parish,  204; 
contributions  to  Ch.  literature,  442. 


INDEX. 


449 


Doane,  Rt.  Rev.  G.  W.,  of  N.  Jersey, 
memoir   of   Bp.  Wainwright,    176, 

375- 

Doane,  Rt.  Rev.  W.  C,  present  at  Con- 
vention and  assisting,  6;  address  of, 
delivered  in  St.  Thomas'  Church, 
N.  Y.,  113-118;  sketch  by,  of  life 
and  episcopate  of  Bp.  Wainwright, 
fifth  Bishop  of  N.  Y.,  176-186; 
vice-president  of  Corporation  for 
Relief,  etc.,  373- 

Dodge,  A.  G.  P.,  gift  of  to  the  Gen. 
Theol.  Seminary,  384. 

Dorr,  Rev.  Dr.,  375. 

Douglas,  Rev.  Dr.  G.  W.,  5. 

Douglas,  \V.  B.,  6. 

D'Oyly  and  M ant's  Family  Bible,  re- 
published by  Bp.  Hobart,  160,  161. 

Drisler,  Henry,   LL.D.,  373. 

Duke  of  York  (James  II.),  code  of  laws 
of,  for  Protestant  religion  in  New 
York,  94-96. 

Dunnell,  Rev.  W.  N.,  266,  372. 

Dutch,  share  of,  in  settling  N.Y.,  88-94. 

Duyckinck,  Evert  and  George  L.,  444. 

Dyer,  Rev.  Dr.  H.,  3S1. 


Eaton,  Rev.  Dr.,  anecdote  of,  176,  177. 

Edson,  Rev.  Dr.,  380. 

Edson,  T.  R.,  gifts  of  family  of,  to  Gen. 

Theol.  Seminary,  384. 
Eigenbrodt,  Rev.  Dr.,  professor  in  Gen. 

Theol.  Seminary,  389. 
Ely,  Alfred,  6. 
Evans,  Rev.  B.,  425. 
Evarts,  Hon.  W.  M.,  197. 
Ewer,  Rev.  Dr.  F.  C,  441. 

F. 

Fairbairn,  Rev.  Dr.  R.  B.,  warden  of 
St.  Stephen's  College,  413;  ser- 
mons of,  443. 

Fletcher,  Governor,  of  N.  York,  99. 

Forbes,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  M.,  dean  of  Gen. 
Theol.  Seminary,  389. 

Forsyth,  Hon.  James,  6. 

Free  Church  of  the  Holy  Martyrs,  N. 
York,  299. 

French  Church  du  St.  Esprit,  239,  240. 

French  Huguenots,  early  colonists  in 
N.  York,  88-90. 

G. 

Gardner,  George  J.,  7. 
Gay,  Rev.  E.,  Jr.,  418,  419. 
General  Convention,  in  its  origination, 
15-17- 

29 


General  Theological  Seminary,  histori- 
cal sketch  of,  374-389- 
Gleig,  chaplain  general  of  British  Army, 

letter  from,  135. 
Gordon,  Rev.  Dr.  John,  50. 
Grace  Church,  City  Island,  356. 

New  York,  242-245. 
Nyack,  329,  330. 
n6thSt.,N.Y.,353,354- 
"         Port  Jervis,  319. 
"        S.  Middletown,  297. 

Stony  Point,  347. 
"        West  Farms,  301,  302. 
"        White  Plains,  265. 
Grace  Parish,  Stony  Point,  342,  343. 
Green  Bay  Mission,  159. 
Griffin,    Rev.    E.   D.,    literary   remains 

of,  434. 
Griffith,  Rev.  Dr.    David,  bishop-elect 

of  Virginia,  134. 
Griswold,  Rev.  Dr.   A.  V.,  consecrated 
bishop  of  the  Eastern  diocese,  137. 

H. 

Haight,    Rev.   Dr.   B.  I.,   professor   in 
Gen.Theol.  Seminary,  379, 387,  3S8. 
Haight,  Charles  C,  372. 
Hall,  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  H.,  6;  contribu- 
tions to  Ch.  literature,  441,  443- 
Hall,  Rev.  Dr.  R.  C,  professor  in  Gen. 

Theol.  Seminary,  389. 
Halleck,  Fitz-Greene,  247. 
Harison,  R.   M.,  treasurer  of  Corpora- 
tion for  Relief,  etc.,  372,  373. 
Harris,  Rev.  William,  138. 
Hawks,    Rev.    Dr.    F.     L.,     32,    241; 
"Chrysostom  of  American  Church," 
37>    38 ;    speech   in  convention   at 
Utica,    80;     eloquent    in    debate, 
no  ;  rector  of  St.  Thomas'  Church, 
New  York,  259  ;  rector  of  Calvary 
Ch.,  277  ;  contributions  to  Church 
literature,  437,  439. 
Heathcote,  Col.  Caleb,  56,  102. 
Henry,  Rev.  Dr.  C.  S.,  216,  441  ;  rec- 
torof  St.  Clement's  Ch.,  N.  Y.,  268. 
Hill,  Rev.  J.  W.,  5- 
Hobart,  Rt.  Rev.   Bp.,   eloquence  and 
energy  of,  30  ;  consecrated  Bp.  of 
New   York,     78,     137  ;    high    and 
noble  character,  79  ;  death  of,  79  ; 
sketch  of  life  and  episcopate  of  the 
third  Bp.   of  New  York,   148-170; 
founder  of  N.  Y.  Bible  and  Prayer 
Book  Society  and  of  Tract  Society, 
373,  374;  services  for  Gen.  Theol. 
Seminary,  374"377>  337  ;  contribu- 
tions to  Church  literature,  432,  433. 


45o 


INDEX. 


Hobart,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  H.,  225,  227,  252, 

397- 

Hodges,  Dr.  Edward,  388. 

Hoffman,  Rev.  Dr.  E.  A.,  dean  of  Gen. 
Theol.  Seminary,  389. 

Hoffman,  Murray,  29  ;  expositor  of 
Church  law,  444. 

Hoffman,  S.  V.,  endows  professorship 
in  Gen.  Theol.  Seminary,  382  ;  gift 
of  widow  and  children  of,  to  endow 
office  of  dean,  384. 

Holden,  Rev.  R.,  rector  of  Trinity 
School,  371. 

Holy  Trinity  Ch.,  Harlem,  343-345. 

Home  for  Incurables,  420. 

Home  for  Old  Men  and  Aged  Couples, 
N.  Y.,  424-426. 

Hopson,  Rev.  G.  B.,  413. 

Houghton,  Rev.  Geo.  H.,  instructor  in 
Gen.  Theol.  Seminary,  388  ;  rector 
of  Ch.  of  Transfiguration,  305. 

House  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  Tomkins 
Cove,  418-420. 

House  of  the  Holy  Comforter,  N.  Y., 
427,  428. 

House  of  Mercy,  N.  Y.,  399. 

House  of  Rest  for  Consumptives,  423. 

Huntington,  Rt.  Rev.  F.  D.,  letter  of, 
to  Dr.  Dix,  3,  4  ;  elected  and  conse- 
crated Bishop  of  Central  N.  York, 
So,  8r,  in  ;  vice-president  of  Cor- 
poration for  Relief,  etc.,  373. 

Huntington,  Rev.  Dr.  W.  R.,  243  ; 
rector  of  Grace  Church,  N.  Y., 
243  ;  contributions  to  Church  liter- 
ature, 442. 


Inglis,  Rev.  Dr.  Charles,  assistant  min- 
ister of  Trinity  Church,  N.  Y. , 
66,  67,  128  ;  retires  to  Nova  Sco- 
tia, 67,  73,  143. 

Institutions  of  Learning  and  Charity  in 
N.  York,  367-429. 

Italian  Mission,  360. 

J- 
Jarvis,  Rev.  Dr.  Abraham,  70  ;  Bp.   of 

Connecticut,  137  ;  death  of,  178. 
Jarvis,  George  A.,  gift   to  Gen.  Theol. 

Seminary,  384. 
Jarvis,  Rev.  Dr.   S.   F.,  242,  246,  261  ; 

professor  in  Gen.  Theol.  Seminary, 

375,  337- 
Jay,  Hon.  John,  197. 
Jay,  Peter  A.,  372. 
Johnson,     Dr.     Samuel,     president    of 

King's  (now  Columbia)  College,  N. 


Y.,  63;  letter  of,  to  Archbishop 
Seeker,  63  ;  presides  in  Conven- 
tion, 64. 

Johnson,  Rev.  Dr.  S.  R.,  175,  375  ; 
professor  in  Gen.  Theol.  Sem'y, 
379.  388. 

Johnson,  William  Samuel,  president  of 
Columbia  College,  443. 

Jones,  Rev.  Alexander,  52. 

Jones,  Samuel,  29. 


Keith,  Rev.  George,  58. 
Kent,  Chancellor,  376. 
King,  Hon.  J.  A.,  6. 
King,  Rufus,  376. 

Kohne,     Frederic,    legacy  of,   to  Gen. 
Theol.  Seminary,  378,  383. 


Learning,  Rev.  Jeremiah.  70. 

Littlejohn,  Rt.  Rev.  Bp.,  present  at 
Convention  and  assisting,  6  ;  ad- 
dress of,  delivered  in  St.  Thomas' 
Church,  N.  Y.,  1 19-124  ;  vice- 
president  of  Corporation  for  Relief, 
etc,  373  ;  contribution  to  Church 
literature,  435. 

Long  Island,  Bishop  of,  and  delegates 
present  at  Convention,  6  ;  created 
a  diocese,  82. 

Lorillard,  Geo.,  legacy  of,  to  Gen. 
Theol.  Seminary,  383. 

Low,  Hon.  Seth,  6. 

Ludlow,  Miss  E.,  gift  of,  to  Gen. Theol. 
Seminary,  to  endow  professorship, 

383,  384  ;    legacy  of,  to  Seminary, 

384,  411. 

Lyman,  Rev.  Dr.  T.  B.,  elected  dean 
of  Gen.  Theol.  Seminary,  389. 

M. 

McVickar,  Rev.  Dr.  John,  32,  37  ;  Bp. 
Coxe's  praise  of,  112,  155,  170; 
favors  founding  St.  Stephen's  Col- 
lege,  399-404  ;  contributions  to 
Church  literature,  439. 

Madison,  Rt.  Rev.  Bp.,  17,  78,  136. 

Magna  Charta,  and  Church  of  England 
in  America,  54,  99  ;  Presbyterian 
attempts  to  set  aside  in  N.  York, 
100-102. 

Mahan,  Rev.  Dr.  M.,  professor  in  Gen. 
Theol.  Seminary,  379,  388,  441. 

Mason,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  M.,  provost  of  Co- 
lumbia College,  N.  Y. ,  151,  155, 
156. 


INDEX. 


451 


Midnight  Mission,  N.  Y.,  420,  421. 

Milnor,  Rev.  Dr.  J.,  rector  of  St. 
George's  Ch.,  N.  Y.,  249,  436. 

Missionary  Society,  Church,  for  Seamen, 
historical  sketch  of,  393~395- 

Moore,  Rev.  Benjamin,  assistant  min- 
ister of  Trinity  Church,  New 
York,  66-69,  72,  74,  77,  143  i  ser- 
mon at  ordination,  77  ;  elected 
rector  of  Trinity  Ch.,  78,  145; 
consecrated  Bishop  of  New  York, 
78  ;  death  of,  78  ;  sketch  of  life 
and  episcopate  of  second  Bishop  of 
New  York,  142-147  ;  secretary  of 
Corporation  for  Relief,  etc.,  371, 
372  ;  discourses  of,  432. 

Moore,  Clement  C,  LL.D.,  professor 
in  Gen.  Theol.  Seminary,  144,  158, 
388  ;  gift  of,  to  Seminary,  375,  443. 

Moore,  Rev.  Dr.  R.  C,  ordained,  76  ; 
rector  of  Grace  Ch.,  Rye,  223,  265  ; 
of  St.  Stephen's,  N.Y.,  241  ;  bishop 
of  Virginia,  223,  241,  374. 

Moore,  Rev.  Dr.  \V.  H.,  6. 

Muhlenberg,  Rev.  Dr.  W.  A.,  33,  38  ; 
rector  of  Church  of  Holy  Com- 
munion, N.  Y.,  288  ;  founder  of 
St.  Luke's  Hospital,  396  ;  contribu- 
tions to  Church  literature,  440,  441. 


N. 


New  Jersey,  Bp.  of,  present  at  conven- 
tion in  New  York,  and  assisting,  6. 
New  Netherland,  taken  by  the  English, 

93,  94- 
New  York  (Manhattan  Island),  original 
settlers  of,  88,  89  ;  the  Dutch   in, 

9°-93- 

New  York,  centennial  of  the  Diocese 
of,  46-86  ;  diocese  organized,  67  ; 
Church  and  State  in,  during  co- 
lonial period,  S7-103  ;  sketch 
of  first  Bishop  of,  127-141  ;  of 
second  Bishop  of,  142-147  ;  of 
third  Bishop  of,  148-170  ;  of  fourth 
Bishop  of,  171-175  ;  of  fifth  Bishop 
of,  176-186 ;  of  sixth  Bishop  of, 
187-198  ;  of  assistant  Bishop  of, 
199,  200. 

New  York  Prot.  Epis.  City  Mission  So- 
ciety, historical  sketch  of,  389-392. 

Noble,  Rev.  L.  L. ,  professor  in  St. 
Stephen's  College,  414. 


O. 


Ogden,  C.  C,  373. 

Ogilby,   Rev.    Dr.  J.  D.,    professor   in 


Gen.  Theol.    Seminary,   379,    388; 
publications  of,  436,  437 
Ogilvie,    Rev.  John,  assistant  minister 
of    Trinity    Church,    N.  Y.,    128, 

138. 

Oliver,  Rev.  Dr.  A.,  professor  in  Gen. 
Theol.  Seminary,  389,  413. 

Olmstead,  Rev.  C.  E.,  7.  413. 

Olssen,  Rev.  Dr.  \\\,  professor  in  St. 
Stephen's  College,  413,  414  ;  publi- 
cations of,  443. 

Onderdonk,  Rt.  Rev.  B.  T.,  episco- 
pate of,  30,  31  ;  consecrated  bishop, 
79,  171  ;  administration  of  diocese, 
80;  death  of,  81  ;  sketch  of  life 
and  episcopate  of,  171-175  ;  pro- 
fessor in  Gen.  Theol.  Seminar}', 
379-338. 

Orphans'  Home  and  Asylum  of  the 
Prot.  Epis.  Ch.,  N.  Y.,  397,  398. 


Parish  Histories  of  the  Diocese  of  New 
York,  203-365. 

Parochial  Fund  of  Diocese  of  N.  Y., 
414-416. 

Payne,  Rev.  Dr.  W.,  6. 

Pendleton,  Mrs.  M.,  gifts  of,  to  Gen. 
Theol.  Seminary,  383. 

Peters,  Rev.  Dr.  T.*M.,  373. 

Pierson,  Henry  R.,  6. 

Potter,  Rev.  Dr.  E.  N.,  6. 

Potter,  Rt.  Rev.  Henry  C,  letter  of 
Bp.  Stevens  to,  4,  5  ;  at  St.  Thomas' 
Ch.  opens  proceedings,  45  ;  con- 
secrated assistant  Bp.  of  N.Y.,  82; 
introduces  Bp.  Coxe  to  tell  the 
story  of  Western  and  Central  N.Y., 
103,  104 ;  introduces  Bp.  Doane, 
to  speak  of  Albany,  112,  113  ;  intro- 
duces Bp.  Littlejohn  to  speak  of 
Long  Island,  118,  119;  sketch  of 
life  and  services  of,  199,  200  ;  pre- 
fatory note  to  Institutions  of 
Learning,  etc.,  369,  370  ;  publica- 
tions of,  433,  434. 

Potter,  Rt.  Rev.  Horatio,  eulogy  on,  31, 
32  ;  consecrated  provisional  Bishop 
of  N.  York,  81,  192  ;  Bishop  of  N. 
Y.  on  the  death  of  Bishop  Onder- 
donk, 81,  192  ;  assistant  to,  chosen, 
82,  200;  sketch  of  life  and  episco- 
pate of,  187-198  ;  president  of  Cor- 
poration for  Relief,  etc.,  373. 
Pott,  James,  373,  374- 
Powel,  Samuel,  371. 

Presbyterians,  views  of,  on  Church 
matters  in  N.  York,  57,  100. 


452 


INDEX. 


Price,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  H.,  rector  of  St. 
Stephen's  Ch.,  N.  Y.,  241  ;  vice- 
president  of  Corporation  for  Relief, 
etc,  373,  407- 

Propagation  of  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts, 
Society  for,  founded,  58  ;  work  in 
America,  58  ;  founds  Trinity 
School.  N.  Y.,  370. 

Provoost,  Rt.  Rev.  Bp.,  10,  17,  67  ; 
goes  to  England  for  consecra- 
tion, 69,  70  ;  sketch  of  life  and 
episcopate  of,  first  Bishop  of  N. 
York,  127-141  ;  president  of  Cor- 
poration for  Relief,  etc.,  371  ; 
literary  position,  432. 

Pruyn,  Hon.  J.  V.  L.,  40S,  412. 


R. 


Religion  and  Learning,  Society  for  Pro- 
moting, gift  of,  to  Gen.  Theol. 
Seminary,  383  ;  historical  sketch  of, 

392>  393- 

Richey,  Rev.  Dr.  T.,  professor  in  Gen. 
Theol.  Seminary,  389. 

Rudd,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  C,  441. 

Rutherford,  Walter,  372. 

Rylance,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  H.,  rector  of  St. 
Mark's  Ch.,  N.  Y.,  234;  publica- 
tions of,  442. 


S. 


Ambrose's  Ch.,.N.  Y.,  336. 
Andrew's  Ch.,  Brewsters,  357,  35S. 
"      N.  Y.,  267. 
"  "      Richmond  Co.,  213, 

214. 
"  "      Walden,  217-220. 

Ann's  Ch.,  Morrisania,  284. 

"       "      New  York,  317,  318. 
Barnabas'  Ch.,  Irvington,  326,  327. 
Bartholomew's  Ch.,  N.  Y.,  276. 
Clement's  Ch.,  N.  Y.,  268,  269. 
Esprit,  l'Eglise  du,  N.  Y.,  239,  240. 
George's  Ch.,  Nevvburgh,  215-217. 
"     N.  York,  249,  250. 
Callicoon  Depot,  352. 
Fordham,     320. 
Goshen,  238,  239. 
Hyde  Park,  250-252. 
New  York,  245-247. 
North  Salem,  233. 
James  the  Less,  Scarsdale,  308. 
John's  Ch.,  Canterbury,  323,  324. 
"      Clarkstown,  336. 
"      Clifton,  285,  286. 
"      Greenwood,  340. 


St.  James'  Ch. 


St.  John's  Ch.,  Kingston,  270. 

"  "      Monticello,  336,  337. 

"      Pleasantville,  314. 
"      Rosendale,  363. 
"  "      St.  John,  362,  363. 

"      Tuckahoe,  314. 
"      Westchester,  363-365. 
"  "      Wilmot,  329. 

"  "      Yonkers,  229-231. 

St.  John  Baptist  Foundation,  426,  427. 
St.  Luke's  Ch.,  Haverstraw,  300. 
"  "        Matteawan,  343. 

"  "       New  York,  256-259. 

"       Rossville,  286,  287. 
"  "       Somers,  282,  283. 

St.  Luke's  Home  for  Indigent  Christian 

Females,  398. 
St.   Luke's    Hospital,  N.  Y.,  historical 

sketch  of,  396,  397. 
St.  Margaret's  Ch.,  Staatsburg,  357. 
St.  Mark's  Ch.  in  the  Bowery,  N.   Y., 

234-237- 

"  "       Carthage  Landing,  339. 

"  "       Katoonah,  361. 

"  "       Mount  Pleasant,  330. 

"  "       Newcastle,  311. 

St.  Mary's  Ch.,  Beech  wood,  359,  360. 

"  "     in  the  Highlands,  283. 

"  "     Manhattanville,  261-265. 

"  "     Mott  Haven,  322,  323. 

"  "     W.  New  Brighton,  310. 

"  "     Yorktown,  345. 

St.   Mary's  Free  Hospital,  N.  Y.,  423, 

424. 
St.  Matthew's  Ch.,  Bedford,  229. 
St.  Michael's  Ch.,  N.  Y.,  242. 
St.  Paul's  Ch.,  Castleton,  270,  271. 

"         "      East  Chester,  224,  225. 

"  "       Morrisania,  315,  316. 

"  "       Newburgh,  328. 

"  "       Pleasant  Valley,  280. 

"  "       Poughkeepsie,  275,  276. 

"  "       Sing  Sing,  274. 

"  "       Spring  Valley,  340,  341. 

"  "       Tivoli,  252,  253. 

"         "      Yonkers,  325. 
St.  Paul's  Mission,  345. 
St.  Peter's  Ch.,  High  Falls,  297,  29S. 

"  "      Lithgow,  271,  272. 

"      N.  Y.,  269. 

"  "       Peekskill,  232,  233. 

"  "       Portchester,  313,  314. 

"  "       Westchester,  231,  232. 

St.  Philip's  Ch.  in  the  Highlands,  283. 

"  "     New  York,  316,  317. 

St.  Stephen's  Ch.,  New  York,  240-242. 
"  "      Northcastle,  2S7,  288. 

St.  Stephen's  College,  Annandale,  his- 
torical sketch  of,  399-414. 


INDEX. 


453 


St.  Thomas'  Ch.,  Amenia,  303,  304. 
"  "      Mamaroneck,  254. 

"  "      New  Windsor,  255. 

"  "      New   York,    proceed- 

ings at  opening  services,  45  ;  Dr. 
De  Costa's  historical  essay,  46- 
86  ;  address  of  Bp.  Coxe,  105-112  ; 
address  of  Bp.  Doane,  113-118  ; 
address  of  Bp.  Littlejohn,  119-124  ; 
sketch  of  parish  history,  259-261. 

St.  Timothy's  Free  Ch.,  N.  Y.,  318,  319. 

Santiago,  New  York,  339. 

Sands,  A.  B. ,  and  Sands  Fund,  415. 

Seabury,  Rev.  Charles,  16. 

"  Rev.  Samuel  (1730),  16. 
"  Rev.  Samuel,  D.D. ,  of  New 
York,  16,  38  ;  sermon  at  funeral  of 
Bp.  Onderdonk,  171  ;  rector  of  Ch. 
of  the  Annunciation,  N.  Y.,  281  ; 
professor  in  Gen.  Theo.  Seminary, 
379,  3S8  ;  literary  labors  of,  439. 

Seabury,  Rt.  Rev.  Samuel,  and  family, 
16,  39  ;  Dr.  S.,  secretary  of  Con- 
vention of  Clergy  (1766),  64,  65  ; 
goes  to  England,  73  ;  consecrated 
in  Scotland,  74,  135  ;  works  with 
Bp.  White,  76. 

Seabury,  Rev.  Dr.  W.  J.,  centennial 
sermon  of  the  Ch.  in  N.  York, 
preached  in  Trinity  Ch.,  7-36  ; 
sketch  by,  of  life  and  episcopate  of 
Bp.B.  T.  Onderdonk,  fourth  Bishop 
of  N.  Y.,  171-175  ;  rector  of  Ch. 
of  the  Annunciation,  N.  Y.,  281  ; 
professor  in  Gen.  Theol.  Seminary, 
339. 

Seymour,  Rev.  Dr.  G.  F.,  professor  in 
Gen.  Theol.  Seminary,   and   dean, 

379,  389- 
Sheltering  Arms,  N.  Y.,  sketch  of,  416, 

417. 

Shepherd's  Fold,  N.  Y. ,  422. 
Sherred,    Jacob,    legacy    of,    to    Gen. 

Theol.  Seminaiy,  376,  383,  386. 
Sisterhood  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  N.Y., 

422. 
Sisterhood   of    the    Holy   Communion, 

N.  Y.,398. 
Sisterhood  of  St.  Mary,  417,  418. 
Sketches  of  the  first  six  Bishops  of  New 

York,  127-198. 
Smith,  Rev.  C.  B.,  sketch  by,  of  the  life 

and  episcopate  of  Bp.  Moore,  second 

Bishop  of  N.  Y.,   142-147  ;    rector 

of  St.  James'  Ch.,  N.  Y.,  246. 
Smith,  Professor  H.,  6. 
Smith,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  C.,  rector  of  Church 

of  the  Ascension,  N.  Y.,  266,  441. 
Smith,  Rev.  Dr.  William,  67,  371. 


Society  of  St.  Martha,  428,  429. 
Spencer,   Rev.   Dr.   J.   A.,  secretary  of 

Corporation   for    Relief,   etc.,  373, 

443  (note). 
Spencer,  John  C,  American  jurist,  80, 

no,  376. 
Staunton,  Rev.  Dr.  W.,  contributions  to 

Church  literature,  441,  442. 
Stevens,  Rt.  Rev.  Bp.,  letter  to  Bp.  H. 

C.  Potter,  4,  5. 
Stuyvesant,    Peter  G.,  gift  of,  to  Gen. 

Theol.  Seminary,  383. 


Talman,    Miss  C,   gifts   to   a   church, 

355  ;  to  the  Seminary,  384. 
Taylor,  Rev.  Dr.  T.  H.,  243. 
Tennessee,  Bishop  of,  present  at  Con- 
vention and  assisting,  6. 
Tract  Society,  Prot.  Episcopal,  374. 
Trinity  Church,  Fishkill,  225-228. 
"         Haverstraw,  299. 
"         Madalin,  333. 
"  Morrisania,  345. 

"         Mount  Vernon,  321. 
"         New    York,    opening 
services   of    Convention    held    in, 
proceedings,    etc.,    3-41  ;     charter 
of,  56,  60. 
Trinity  Church,  New  Rochelle,  220-222. 
"      Saugerties,  269,  270. 
"  "      Sing  Sing,  341. 

Trinity  Parish,  N.  Y.,  history  of,  203- 
219  ;  rectors  of,  203  ;  assistant 
ministers  of,  204  ;  seven  churches 
in,  206-209  ;  aid  given  by  to  other 
churches,  209-211  ;  what  the  ves- 
try do  with  the  income,  211-213. 
Trinity  School,  N.  Y.,  historical  sketch 

of,  370-671. 
Tucker,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  I.,  6. 
Turner,   Rev.    Dr.    S.   H.,  professor  in 
Gen.  Theol.    Seminary,  379,    388  ; 
contributions  to  Church  literature, 

437,  438. 
Tuttle,  Rev.  Dr.  I.   H.,   rector  of   St. 

Luke's  Ch.,  N.  Y.,  256,  398. 
Tvler,  Mrs.  A.,  421. 
Tyng,  Rev.   Dr.   S.   H.,   rector   of   St. 

George's  Ch.,  N.  Y.,  249,  441. 


V. 


Vanderbilt,  W.  H.,  legacy  of,  to  Gen. 

Theol.  Seminary,  384. 
Van  Dyck,  Rev.  L.  B.,  6. 
Van  Wagenen,  G.  G.,   372. 
Van  Winkle,  Rev.  I.,  413. 


454 


INDEX. 


Verplanck,  Gulian  C,  29,  227,  228, 
376;  professor  in  Gen.  Theol. 
Seminary,  388,  443;  jurist  and 
author,  443. 

Vesey,  Rev.  William,  55;  not  a  dis- 
senter, 56,  57;  ordination  and  la- 
bors of,  in  N.  Y.  City,  56-62  ;  com- 
missary, 62 ;  death  of,  62  ;  rector 
of  Trinity  Parish,  203. 

Vinton,  Rev.  Dr.  F.,  175;  professor  in 
Gen.  Theol.  Seminary,  389;  pub- 
lications of,  440. 

W. 

Wainwright,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  M.,  conse- 
crated provisional  Bishop  of  N.  Y., 
81;  death  of,  81;  sketch  of  life  and 
episcopate  of  fifth  Bishop  of  N.  Y., 
176-186;  desirous  of  a  training  col- 
lege, 399;  contributions  to  Ch.  lit- 
erature, 433. 

Wallace,  J.  M.,  371. 

Walton,  Rev.  Dr.  W.,  instructor  and 
professor  in  Gen.  Theol.  Seminary, 

389- 

Ward,  Rev.  J.  H.,  432. 

Wardill,  Rev.  John,  66. 

Washburn,  Rev.  Dr.  E.  A.,  rector  of 
Calvary  Ch.,  N.  Y.,  277,  439;  con- 
tributions to  Ch.  literature,  441. 

Washington,  George,  inauguration  of, 
in  N.  Y.  as  President  of  the  United 
States,  136;  death  of,  and  mourning 
for,  137. 

Western  N.  York,  Bishop  of,  and  dele- 
gates present  at  Convention,  6  ; 
created  a  diocese,  80. 


White,  Rev.  Dr.  W.,  17;  goes  to  Eng- 
land for  consecration,  70  ;  plan  for 
temporary  Church  organization  in 
America,  70,  71  ;  president  of  Cor- 
poration for  Relief,  etc.,  371 ;  serv- 
ices   for    Gen.    Theol.     Seminary, 

375-377- 
Whittingham,    Rt.   Rev.   Bp.,   39,  109; 

rector  of  St.    Luke's  Ch.,   N.  Y., 

256,  258  ;  professor  in  Gen.  Theol. 

Seminary,  379,  388  ;  contributions 

to  Church  literature,  434. 
Williams,  Rev.  Eleazar,  159. 
Willink,  Mrs.  C.  A.,  411. 
Williston,Rev.  Ralph,  ordination  of,  146. 
Wilson,    Rev.    Dr.    Bird,   professor   in 

Gen.  Theol.    Seminary,    379,  387 ; 

Life  of  Bishop  White,  438. 
Wilson,  Gen.  J.  G.,  sketch  by,  of  life 

and  episcopate  of  Bp.  Provoost,i27- 

141  ;  sketch  of  Assistant  Bp.,  199  ; 

gifts  to  St.  James'  Ch.,  N.  Y.,  247. 
Windsor,  Rev.  Dr.  Lloyd.  6. 
Wolfe,  Miss  C.  L.,  generous  aid  given 

by,  243,  420. 
Wolley,  Rev.  Charles,  49. 

Y. 

Yonkers  Nursery  and  Home,  429. 


Ziegenfuss,  Rev.  H.  L.,  68. 
Zimmerman,    Mrs.     M.    E.,     generous 

gift  of,  419,  420. 
Zion  Church,  Greenburg,  273,  274. 

"         "         N.  Y.,  247-249. 

"         "         Wappinger's  Falls,  272. 


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